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COLUMBUS 



AND 



HIS PREDECESSORS 

A Study in the Beginnings of 
American History 



BY 

CHARLES H. McCARTHY, Ph.D. (U. of P.) 

Professor of American History in the Catholic 

University of America. Author of 

Lincoln's ^ Plan of Reconstruction; 

Civil Government in the 

United States, etc. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
JOHN JOSEPH McVEY 

1912 



Copyright 

John Joseph McVey 

1912 



All Rights Heserved 



£C!.A314696 



TO THE 

2Cttt9l)tB of Qlnlumbua 

WHO HAVE SHOWN A GREAT PRACTICAL INTEREST IN 

AMERICAN HISTORY, THIS LITTLE VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 



PREFACE 

Although the approved method whereby the 
present-day historian gleans the facts of his nar- 
rative is by research among original documents 
and contemporary papers and by collating these 
in the most critical manner, this method seems to 
have been little followed in the history of the dis- 
covery of America. Strange as it may seem, the 
beginnings of the history of the New W'orld re- 
main hidden in the dusk of uncertainty. At best 
we have come only into the twilight of knowledge 
regarding even the central figure of this period, 
for it cannot be said that the full and accurate 
story has yet been told of the man himself who is 
the accepted discoverer of the Western hemi- 
sphere. In view of our honest pride in our coun- 
try's standing among the nations, it is far from 
flattering that we should have to make such an 
admission at this late date. 

\^iewed from another angle, however, one may 
find that our neglect in this regard is partly ex- 
tenuated by the distracting conditions which sit 
upon a country during the period of its formative 
and maturing process. The time of such develop- 
ment leaves little enough opportunity for the fol- 



vi PREFACE 

lowing of the culturing sciences and arts and for 
the fullness of that intellectual Hfe which makes 
its dwelling in the abode of peace. But if our 
forefathers in pioneer days, and if our fathers 
in still more stirring times, had work to do which 
excused them from following to their sources the 
early records of American history, the same may 
not be said of the generations in these piping 
times of peace and of scientific research into the 
annals of the past. 

This essay on Columbus and his Predecessors 
is but one among the signs that the duty which 
Americans owe to the memory of Columbus, is 
before the eyes of the present generation. The 
learned author in the following pages has set 
himself the task of clearing the ground and set- 
ting the stage, as it were, [for a true survey of 
the drama whose culmination finds the immortal 
navigator of Genoa on the shores of a new 
world, j With painstaking care he sketches, begin- 
ning with the Phoenicians, what the old pagan 
world knew about the globe and about navigation ; 
also the extent of the knowledge of these matters 
among the early Christian nations, down to the 
famous explorations of the hardy Norsemen. 
Briefly, too, he reviews the nautical expeditions, 
before Columbus' time, undertaken by Italy, 
France, Spain, Portugal, and England, showing 
in the course of the interesting story that as the 



PREFACE 



outcome of all this maritime activity there came 
a system into their schemes of discovery, greatly 
increased geographical knowledge, and better 
instruments and sea-going apparatus. Columbus, 
the man of destiny, steps into the story now, 
and the genesis of his grand project is skilfully 
traced, and the story told of his struggles, stage 
by stage, up to his glorious triumph. The legend 
of the "Nameless Pilot" is critically examined 
and rejected as the fabrication of an enemy. 
Next follows a chapter, which is perhaps the 
most important in the whole book, on the equip- 
ment of the expedition and the discovery of the 
new^ Continent. From the records in the archives 
of Spain it is clear that seven-eighths of the 
money needed for the equipment was loaned to 
Ferdinand and Isabella by the Santa Hcrmandad 
of which Santangel and Pinelo were the treas- 
urers. We do not yet know whence came the 
one eighth furnished by the Admiral himself. 

One of the concluding sections makes it plain 
that the discoveries of Cabot were suggested by 
the success of Columbus. It was upon the ex- 
plorations of the former that England based her 
claims to North America. The United States 
sprang from the union of thirteen English de- 
pendencies. Hence the interest of Americans in 
everything pertaining to the discoverer of the 
New World. The study is concluded by a brief 



viii PREFACE 

but very suggestive statement of Spanish achieve- 
ment in America. 

The pubhcation of the volume on the eve of 
the unveiHng in Washington of the Columbus 
statue, by the order of Congress, is most oppor- 
tune. It is a like happy circumstance that the 
essay comes from the experienced pen of the 
Professor of American History at the Catholic 
University, Washington, D. C. His gracious act 
in dedicating the volume to the Knights of Co- 
lumbus is deeply appreciated, and it will doubt- 
less serve as an encouragement to them to a 
renewed and patriotic interest in the history of 
their country. 

James A. Flaherty, 

Supreme Knight, 
Knights of Columbus. 

April 25, 1912. 



FOREWORD 

The brief study included in the following pages 
is intended to supply the needs of the general 
reader. Indeed, it was partly suggested by a 
number of inquiries received by the author con- 
cerning some of the topics of which it treats. 
It is also designed to furnish supplemental read- 
ing matter for all institutions of learning that 
offer courses of instruction in American political 
history. It will be found useful by readers of 
every class, except a few Columbians, special 
students of every topic connected with the 
progress of geographical information. 

This essay is based upon the great scientific 
works bearing upon the discovery of America 
as well as upon former studies of the writer. 
For the benefit of readers desiring to enter more 
fully upon an examination of the larger topics 
considered in this volume there has been added 
a brief bibliography. 

Washington, D. C, 
April 15, 1912. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction xiii 

I. Geographical Knowledge of the Ancients 

AND THE Arabs 1 

II. Christian Pilgrims 10 

III. Norse Achievement in the Western Hem- 

isphere 17 

IV. Franciscan Missionaries and Marco Polo 29 
V. Italian Supremacy in Navigation 51 

VI. Portuguese Achievement 58 

VII. Geographical Knowledge and Theory of 

Columbus 82 

VIII. The Equipment. Discovery 118 

IX. The Nameless Pilot 158 

X. England's Claim to North America 191 

XI. Consequences of the Discovery 198 



INTRODUCTION 

This re-study of familiar themes attempts no 
more than the correction of certain popular 
errors relative to the significance of Norse ex- 
ploration in America, European knowledge of 
Asia in the fifteenth century, the geographical 
information of Columbus, and the equipment of 
that memorable expedition which gave to civiliza- 
tion a new world. To trace in outline the mari- 
time achievements which culminated in the dis- 
covery of the American continents is an under- 
taking of the greatest magnitude. To endeavor 
to sketch even a few of its more important 
phases may be regarded as a piece of presump- 
tion. The main facts in the extension of geo- 
graphical science are mentioned in count- 
less monographs and unnumbered volumes. To 
collect and arrange this material is something 
more than the labor of a summer's day. With 
some suspicion, then, of the extent of the larger 
theme, the author of this study has chosen a 
smaller one. It is, however, sufficiently ample, 
and an accurate knowledge of it is indispensabfe 
to a firm grasp of the beginnings of American 
history. The discovery of the New World was 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

not an isolated event. It was rather the cul- 
mination of a succession of great movements 
which collectively gave new proofs of the form 
and made known the magnitude of the globe. 
Therefore we shall glance hastily at the extent 
of geographical learning in classical times and 
endeavor briefly to trace its progress from the 
age of Eratosthenes to the triumph of Columbus. 



COLUMBUS AND HIS 
PREDECESSORS 



CHAPTER I. 



GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF 
THE ANCIENTS. 

The Phoenicians. 

Of the nations that grew up around the Medi- 
terranean the Phoenicians were the first to win 
weakh and immortaHty in trade. From Sidon 
and from Tyre they colonized its shores and 
sailed even in the great ocean beyond ; toward 
the east their commodities entered the Red Sea 
and found their way to India. It matters not 
whether Tarshish was Cadiz or Carthage, Tyrian 
ships were known there and in every other 
emporium. 

Solomon was not the only ruler in the ancient 
world who confided his commerce to the fleets 
of Tyre. Herodotus, himself a notable traveller 
in the fifth century B. C, relates that the Egyp- 



2 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

tian king Necho, of the XXVI Dynasty (about 
600 B. C), built a fleet on the Red Sea, manned 
it with Phoenician sailors, and directed them to 
sail southward and return to Egypt by way of 
the Pillars of Hercules and the Mediterranean 
Sea. According to this tradition, which the 
Greek historian quotes sceptically, the voyage 
was accomplished in about three years. The ac- 
count is too vague, however, to be accepted as 
anything more than a possibility. 

The Carthaginians. 

The Senate of Carthage, the most famous of 
the Phoenician colonies, sent an expedition under 
Hanno, somewhere between 570 and 480 B. C, 
with the intention of establishing new colonies 
along the west coast of Africa. The expedition 
is believed to have sailed along the northern 
coast of the Gulf of Guinea. This attempt at 
colonization was made when the prosperity of 
Carthage was greatest. It was during the same 
epoch that Himilco was commissioned to ex- 
plore toward the north the coast of Iberia. He 
may have reached the Bay of Biscay or even 
have sighted Britain. The details of his explora- 
tion are not clear. 

The Greeks. 

In the twentieth century it is not necessary 



THE ANCIENTS 3 

to discuss minutely the geographical learning 
of classical times. It will be sufficient to notice 
some signs of early nautical activity among 
the Greeks and, barely allude to the epoch of 
Alexander the Great. In another connection 
will be discussed their geographical theory. 
Though the Romans in many departments of 
human activity were followers of the Greeks, 
and in those fields did not attain to the same 
eminence, in many lines they were themselves 
pioneers and far excelled their gifted neighbors 
in Hellas. The purpose of this essay is to show 
not their respective contributions to civilization 
but the geographical knowledge and the geo- 
graphical theory of each. 

As early as 330 B. C. one Pytheas, a navi- 
gator of the Greek colony of Massilia (Mar- 
seilles), is believed to have sailed far beyond 
the Pillars of Hercules, to have entered the 
English Channel and to have followed the coast 
of Britain to the extreme north. Beyond this 
he spoke of a land called Thule, which may have 
been Shetland or even Iceland. A sea was 
reached through which he could not sail. From 
this it has been inferred that he was the first of 
the Greeks who knew of the Arctic regions. 
Either on this voyage or a later one he entered 
the Baltic and there found the coasts where 
amber is obtained. No other discoveries are 



4 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

mentioned before his return to the Mediter- 
ranean. The scholarship of our time is incUned 
to accept this account of discoveries by the Mas- 
siHan seaman, though it was rejected by Strabo, 
one of the greatest of Greek geographers. 

In the fourth century of our era, the Greeks 
knew Asia from the river Indus to the Mediter- 
ranean and from the Sea of Arabia to the moun- 
tains of Armenia. The armies of Alexander 
crossed the plains beyond the Caspian, pene- 
trated the wild passes in the mountains north- 
west of India and did not turn back until they 
entered the country between the Indus and the 
Ganges. As is well known, a part of Alexan- 
der's victorious army returned by ships from tht; 
Indus to the Tigris. In October, 326 B. C.. 
Nearchus left the Indus with his great fleet 
Though some of the records have perished^, 
enough remains to show that between those 
two rivers a careful exploration was made. Near- 
chus was preparing to sail around Arabia when 
the death of Alexander led to the breaking up 
of the fleet without making the voyage. This 
was a very great epoch of discovery. The Greeks 
who accompanied Alexander described carefully 
the towns and villages through which they 
passed; also the products and the physical ap- 
pearance of the country. There was then estab- 



THE ANCIENTS 



lished a connection between the civilization of 
Hellas and Hindustan. 

As Carthage continued the maritime enterprise 
of the mother country, Phoenicia, so now the 
kingdoms founded by the generals of Alexander 
preserved for a time the civilization of the Hel- 
lenic world. Thus was supplied by Megasthenes, 
an ambassador of Seleucus, full information 
concerning the valley of the Ganges. The dy- 
nasty of the Ptolemies, founded by another of 
Alexander's generals, manifested much interest 
in extending geographical information. Indeed, 
by the protection and encouragement of Eratos- 
thenes, Ptolemy Euergetes (247-228 B. C.) ren- 
dered the greatest service to geographical science. 
The researches of Eratosthenes gave the first 
approximate knowledge of the size of the 
spherical earth. Under the successors of Ptolemy 
Euergetes vessels were equipped to explore the 
Red Sea. Eudoxus, the navigator who com- 
manded these expeditions, left the service of 
Egypt and visited the prosperous ports of the 
Mediterranean for the purpose of obtaining fi- 
nancial assistance to undertake the exploration 
of Africa, which he believed to be washed by an 
ocean on the south. 

The Romans. 

The Romans, at least in their early history. 



6 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

did not encourage navigation and commerce with 
the same ardor as did the Greeks. It was the 
mihtary genius of Rome and her ambition for 
universal empire that led to discovery. Every 
war gave occasion to a new survey. In this way 
the Romans knew minutely nearly all Europe as 
well as large tracts in Asia and in Africa. 

In her high and palmy state Rome had ex- 
plored and surveyed all the coasts of the Medi- 
terranean : Italy, Greece, the Balkan peninsula, 
Spain, Gaul, western Germany and also much 
of Britain. In Africa her possessions included 
Egypt, Carthage, Numidia and Mauretania. In 
the third continent her authority was acknowl-. 
edged in Asia Minor and Syria. Roman legions 
had entered the vast and mysterious country of 
the Arabs, and the Roman people knew some- 
thing of the regions that had been conquered 
by Alexander. The resources and the extent of 
Persia were not unknown to them. Something 
more vague was their knowledge of Bactria and 
Scythia. Roman intercourse with India led to a 
very great extension of geographical informa- 
tion. 

Before the Romans undertook new conquests 
it was usual with them to send out exploring 
expeditions to report concerning the nature of 
the country. This policy collected at Rome a 
vast masg of geographical facts. Centurions 



THE ARABS 



were commissioned to explore the upper reaches 
of the Nile, and at least one expedition had sailed, 
out of sight of land, across the Arabian Sea to 
India. In the time of the Emperor Severus 
and in the reigns of his immediate successors 
intercourse with that country was at its height. 
From the writings of Pausanias (about 174 
A. D.) it appears that direct communication had 
already been established between Rome and 
China. 

After the division of the Roman empire, Con- 
stantinople, the capital of the eastern portion, 
became the refuge of learning, of arts and of 
taste. Justinian, in whose reign (527-565 A. D.) 
the greatness of the empire culminated, sent to 
China two Nestorian monks, who returned with 
eggs of the silk-worm concealed in a hollow cane. 
From these were obtained the first silk-worms 
in Europe and in this way was begun in the 
Peloponnesus and the isles of Greece the manu- 
facture of silk. It was in the same memorable 
reign that Cosmas Indicopleustes, an Egyptian 
merchant, made several voyages to India and 
afterward composed his Christian Topography, 
which contains a tolerable description of that 
country. 

The Arabs. 

During the period of Arabic ascendency the 



8 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Mohammedan world had considerable inter- 
course with Central Asia and had some knowl- 
edge of the Far East. For reasons of trade, 
however, information concerning the routes 
thither was carefully guarded. For Europeans, 
therefore, there was little prospect of expansion 
toward either the South or the East. In those 
regions Islam stood guard. The brilliant specu- 
lations of Arabic geographers, though often at- 
tractive, added little to the scientific conclusions 
of the Greeks. It was not the Arabs who ex- 
tended the limits of the known world beyond 
Thule. As we shall see, that honor belongs al- 
most exclusively to the Scandinavian nation. 
The actual contribution of the Arabs to geo- 
graphical information was their exploration of 
the northern shores of the Indian Ocean, from 
Magadoxa or Mozambique to Hindustan. Con- 
cerning that part of the world European knowl- 
edge was extremely vague. 

As stated above, the Arabs had some knowl- 
edge of distant countries. In the middle of the 
ninth century one Sulaiman, a merchant of that 
nation, embarked in the Persian Gulf and made 
several voyages to India and China. It is said 
that from personal experience Masudi knew all 
the countries between Spain and China. In his 
Meadows of Gold he describes lands and peoples. 
Other Arab writers of that epoch were : Istakhri, 



THE ARABS 



who travelled through all Mohammedan coun- 
tries and in 950 wrote his Book of Climates; 
Ibn Haukal, whose book of Roads and King- 
doms, written in 976, was based on the work of 
Istakhri. The best known of Arabian geographi- 
cal authors was Idrisi. After travelling exten- 
sively in the first half of the twelfth century he 
settled in Sicily, where he wrote a treatise 
descriptive of an armillary sphere, which he had 
constructed for Roger II, the Norman king.^ 
In his work Idrisi incorporated all accessible re- 
sults of contemporary travel. 

^An armillary sphere was a skeleton celestial globe, con- 
sisting of metal rings or hoops representing the equator, 
ecliptic, tropics, arctic and antarctic circles, and colures, 
revolving on an axis within a wooden horizon. 



CHAPTER II. 

CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS. 

Early Christian Pilgrims. 

From the time of the Emperor Constantine, 
whose mother, St. Helena, had founded a church 
at Bethlehem, thousands of nameless pilgrims 
from Europe visited the Holy Places of Syria. 
The route generally followed, took them 
through North Italy, Aquileia, Sirmium, Con- 
stantinople, and Asia Minor. Of these multitudes 
perhaps fewer than a dozen have left any valua- 
ble record of the journey to the Levant. Etheria, 
a Spanish nun, long believed to have been Sylvia 
of Aquitaine, (about 385) travelled not only 
through Syria but in Lower Egypt, in the Sinaitic 
peninsula, and in Northern Mesopotamia. From 
the Euphrates her party returned toward the 
coast and thence by the military road which con- 
nected Tarsus with the Bosphorus. In the thir- 
teenth and the succeeding centuries, when greater 
and more enlightened travellers went into Central 
Asia and even as far as China these travellers 
were forgotten. 

10 



CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS n 

For five hundred years afterward there was 
indeed much travel but little of geographical 
theory. The semi-barbarous conquerors of the 
Empire of the West had not yet come to appre- 
ciate the civilization which they had nearly de- 
stroyed. In the seventh century the victorious 
Saracens, still engaged chiefly in destruction, did 
not encourage European travellers to come 
amongst them. Even in this memorable era 
there were men like Isidore of Seville, and Ver- 
gil, an Irish missionary of the eighth century, 
who held to a more scientific geography. Though 
little had been discovered that was new, yet the 
knowledge of the Greeks had not perished. The 
religious influence was the first agency in the 
formation of modern nations. It was also "the 
first impulse towards their expansion."^ 

Arculf and Willibald. 

To this epoch (600-870 A. D.) belong Arculf 
and Willibald, names more familiar in English- 
speaking countries. The Eastern adventures of 
the former were written by Abbot Adamnan, to 
whose great monast^^ry of lona, Arculf had been 
driven by storms. This narrative (about A. D. 
701) was presented and dedicated to Aldfrith 
the Wise, in his court at York. As a useful 
manual for Englishmen, Concerning the Holy 

^Beazley, Prince Henry th-^ yavigator, p. 42. 



12 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Sites, the account was summarized by the Ven- 
erable Bede. WilHbald, a nephew of St. Boni- 
face, spent in oriental and other travels a period 
of ten years. This included many of the coun- 
tries between places as far apart as Southamp- 
ton and Damascus. 

Fidelis and Bernard the Wise. 

To the same age belongs Fidelis, who trav- 
elled in Egypt about the year 750. More than a 
century later, 867, Bernard the Wise of Mont 
St. Michel mentions a circumstance which shows 
the undoubted supremacy of the Saracens at 
that tirne. The Emir of Bari forwarded Ber- 
nard's party of pilgrims in a fleet of transports 
that was carrying 9,000 Christian slaves to Alex- 
andria. Other travellers and writers in the age 
succeeding are known to us, but they made few 
important contributions to geographical learning. 
The haughty science of to-day characterizes the 
narratives of the pilgrims of those distant ages 
as infantile. Nevertheless, it must be admitted 
that they had comparatively large knowledge 
and experience. However, when we come to 
examine the travels and the narratives of the 
Franciscan friars of the thirteenth and the fol- 
lowing centuries, we become conscious of an im- 
mense advance. 



IRISH MISSIONARIES 



13 



The Irish in Iceland. 

In the epoch at which we have arrived popu- 
lar fancy regards the Norsemen as the sole 
voyagers in the Arctic seas. This opinion, so in 
harmony with circumstances, is almost literally, 
but not absolutely true. In Iceland they were 
anticipated by a race that they were destined to 
meet in their endeavor to conquer the maritime 
parts of western Europe. The succession of 
triumphs which attended their arms is a common- 
place of school histories ; an enumeration of 
Norse defeats is less famihar reading. From 
the death of St. Patrick scarcely half a century 
had passed when Irish missionaries were engaged 
in the war that paganism was waging against the 
Christian world. The conversion of northern 
England is chiefly to be ascribed to the zeal of 
Aidan and his countrymen ; Irish missionaries 
crossed to Flanders and to Burgundy ; they pene- 
trated even into Italy and Switzerland, where 
the canton of St. Gall commemorates the labors 
of an Irish monk. In their apostolic journeys 
they left valuable manuscripts along the Danube 
and the Rhine. These wanderings, it is true, 
were not discoveries, but the zeal which sus- 
tained the disciples of Patrick and Columba in 
such undertakings drove them into all the neigh- 
boring lands where there were souls to save. 
This zeal it was that in the year 795, from Feb- 



14 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



ruary i to August i, led Irish hermits to Ice- 
land. 

On the return of these missionaries they re- 
ported the marvel of perpetual day in Thule 
(Iceland), where there was then *'no darkness 
to hinder one from doing what one would." On 
their arrival in Iceland they found the ocean 
ice-free for one day's sail ; after that they came 
to an ice-wall. Memorials of this, and perhaps 
of other religious settlements were found by 
Scandinavian colonists when, in the ninth cen- 
tury, they came to take permanent possession of 
the island. 

Dicuil, an Irish Geographer. 

The earliest unquestioned mention of the 
European discovery and the European settle- 
ment of Iceland is to be found in De Mensura 
orbis terrae, finished in 825.^ The same essay, 
of which the author was the Irish monk and 
geographer Dicuil, also contains the first definite 
Western reference to the old fresh water canal 
between the Nile and the Red Sea. This was 
finally blocked up in y6y. Dicuil learned of this 
from Brother Fidelis, probably another Irish 
monk, who in going to Jerusalem sailed along 
the Nile into the Red Sea, passing on his way 

iThe best text is that of G. Parthey, Berlin, 1870. 



IRISH MISSIONARIES 15 



the ''Barns of Joseph" or the pyramids of Giza. 
These are well described. 

Dicuil's knowledge of the isles north and west 
of Britain is evidently intimate, while his refer- 
ences to Irish exploration and colonization, and to 
the later Scandinavian devastation of the same, 
are in every way noteworthy. This is not the 
place to discuss the scholarship of Dicuil, which 
was considerable. He quotes from and notices 
thirty Greek and Latin writers ; was the author 
of a metrical work on astronomy and wrote a 
grammar, which has been lost. Concerning Ice- 
land, his information was derived from the 
missionaries who had sojourned there. 

Predecessors of the Polos. 

Early in the Crusades, Saewulf of Worcester, 
Adelard of Bath, and Daniel of Kiev were 
among the peaceful pilgrims who traversed 
Palestine after the ways had been made smooth 
by the victorious warriors of the First Crusade. 
They have little more to tell us than was related 
centuries before by Fidelis and others. Coming 
shortly after ^ Abbot Daniel of Kiev, was one 
Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish rabbi, who visited 
communities of his own people from Navarre to 
Bagdad, ''and described those beyond from Bag- 
dad to China.*' He seems, however, to hav^ 



l6 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

written chiefly for members of his own race and 
appears otherwise to have attracted Uttle notice.^ 
His discoveries (about 1160-73) seem to have 
added to the geographical information of West- 
ern Europe only what was known to the Greeks 
and the Arabs. For Europe, however, he may 
be regarded among overland travellers as a fore- 
runner of the Polos. 

In the year 1258 the Caliphate of Bagdad was 
overthrown by the Mongol Tartars. The last 
Caliph of the Saracens was butchered by Hol- 
galu and his Tartars and, according to one ac- 
count, sewn in a sack and cast into the Tigris. 
The House of Jenghiz Kahn, whose dominions 
extended from the China Sea to the river Dnie- 
per, was more enlightened than any former east 
ern dynasty. As will presently appear, the Pope 
and the King of France sent missionaries to 
the Tartar rulers, who were believed to be wav- 
ering between Islamism and Christianity. It 
was during this period (1260) that Nicolo and 
Maffeo Polo, Venetian merchants, began their 
memorable journey to the Far East. 

iBeazley, Prince Henry the navigator, pp. 88-89. 



CHAPTER III. 

NORSE ACHIEVEMENT IN THE WEST- 
ERN HEMISPHERE. 

Extent and End of Norse Dominion. 

The Danish conquest of England and Nor- 
mandy as well as the occupation of commercial 
centres in Ireland are among the commonplaces 
of school history, but the ambition and the suc- 
cesses of other branches of that race extended 
far beyond western Europe. They had visited 
and ravaged every nation from Archangel to 
Cordova and from Limerick to Constantinople. 
For two hundred years they had ruled one-half 
the British Isles. Their devastation of Irish 
colonies has been noticed. Indeed, the Danish 
invasions first arrested the development in Ire- 
land itself of a flourishing civilization. That 
nation, however, finally checked the conquering 
career of the Vikings. The complete destruction 
of Norse dominion was begun in 1014 by King 
Brian Boru at Clontarf. Between 1042 and 1066 
they met many defeats in England at the hands 
of Godwin and his son Harold. The overthrow 
17 



l8 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

of Hardrada at Stamford Bridge will suggest 
the nature of their chastisment by the last ruler 
of the Saxons.^ In the next generation the 
sovereigns of Scotland inflicted upon the sea- 
kings still other defeats. Indeed, even earlier a 
sovereign of that country had punished their 
invasions. When the witches foretold that Mac- 
beth would be thane of Cawdor, that ambitious 
General was returning from the defeat not only 
of the disloyal subjects of King Duncan but of 
their Scandinavian allies. Outside of their 
kingdom in the Orkneys, Norse dominion in 
western Europe ended in the last half of the 
eleventh century. 

Place of the Norse as Explorers. 

Betw'een the era of Constantine and the begin- 
ning of the Crusades the greatest progress in 
geographical knowledge was that made by the 
Vikings. Their exploration of northern Europe, 
as well as the settlement of Iceland and the dis- 
covery of Greenland, were made when they were 
still pagans. It was while their great nautical 
hero, Leif the son of Eric, was on his way from 

^Edgar Atheling is. of course, always included in the 
list of the Saxon kings of England. Though Edgar, for a 
short time after the battle of Hastings, was the lawful 
king. Harold was the last actual ruler before the Norman 
Conquest. 



NORSE EXPLORERS 



19 



Norway to proclaim Christianity to the people 
of Greenland that the wooded shores of America 
were first seen.^ Their voyages thither and their 
attempt to colonize it will be noticed presently. 
Early American history is concerned with that 
branch of the Scandinavian race which colonized 
Iceland and Greenland and discovered Wineland 
the Good. For centuries preceding these events 
its home had been in those countries that we 
know as Norway and Sweden. The members of 
this enterprising nation were kinsmen of the 
Danes, those renowned warriors who placed a 
line of kings on the throne of England, who 
wrested from Charles the Simple the valley of 
the Seine and there built up the powerful duke- 
dom of Normandy. They intermarried with 
the Romanized Celtic natives of Gaul and soon 
became the most polished as well as the most 
warlike people of Europe. In the short space 
of five years this new nation put an end to 
Anglo-Saxon domination, which had been estab- 
lished in England for more than six hundred 
years. Indeed, they practically destroyed the 
Anglo-Saxon monarchy in one October day. 
Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and Palestine 
were destined soon to become acquainted with 

^It is well known that there Is some authority for believ- 
ing that Herjulfson had seen the American coast even 
before the accidental discovery by Leif. 



2D COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

the Normans. With their remarkable history 
this essay is not concerned. Their kinsmen, the 
Norwegians, did not come into so close contact 
with the civilization of southern Europe and 
therefore did not play so important a part in 
history. They did, however, act a very interest- 
ing part, and in a climate more congenial than 
that of Iceland and Greenland would, doubtless, 
have built up a powerful and enduring state. 

Eric Discovers Greenland. 

In the sagas, or Norse histories, we are told 
that Eric and his father, on account of man- 
slaughter, went from Norway to Iceland. Not 
long afterward, about 985 A. D., Eric discovered 
a new country and named it Greenland, not 
indeed, because it was a pleasant place, but in 
order to attract settlers. In the tenth century 
the climate of Greenland was very much the same 
as it is to-day. From its history we know that 
even in its most flourishing state it was not 
easy during the long winters to find food for cat- 
tle ; we know too, that many ships trading there 
were hemmed in by icebergs and that countless 
others were wrecked in its dangerous waters. 

It was not long until settlements were made in 
the new land. From a partial examination of its 



GREENLAND SETTLEMENTS 21 

ruins and its records it is certain that the prin- 
cipal colonies of Greenland, the Estribygd and 
the Vestribygd, were situated along its south- 
western coast. The people were engaged chiefly 
in hunting, in fishing and in cattle-breeding. 
Their conversion to Christianity, in the begin- 
ning of the eleventh century, brought them into 
such intercourse with Rome as their remote 
situation would permit. They contributed tithes 
to the Crusades and, as late as the year 1418, 
in walrus-tusks paid their Peter's Pence to the 
Holy See. In its most flourishing era the popu- 
lation of Greenland was about five thousand. 
The western settlement contained four churches, 
the eastern twelve. There was a monastery of 
Saints Olaf and Augustine ; also a convent of the 
Benedictine order. From the time of the con- 
version of its people until the year 1492, when 
the last spiritual head was nominated to the 
See of Gardar, Greenland could claim a line of 
at least sixteen bishops. 

In developing their fisheries and in seeking 
pasture for their cattle, the people of Greenland 
became familiar with its western coast. They 
appear to have also explored its more perilous 
eastern parts. Their nautical activity was not 
confined, however, to their own inhospitable 
land. An accident broadened their maritime 
horizon. 



22 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

J 

Leif Discovers a New Land. 

Leif, one of the sons of Eric the Red, had 
gained the good opinion of Olaf Tryggvason, 
King of Norway. On one occasion this ruler 
asked, *'Is it thy purpose to sail to Greenland 
this summer?" "It is my purpose," said Leif, 
"if it be your will." "I believe it will be well," 
answered the King, "and thither thou shalt go 
upon my errand to proclaim Christianity there." 
When Leif's modesty suggested doubts concern- 
ing the success of the proposed mission, the King 
replied that he knew no man better fitted for the 
undertaking, and added, "In thy hands the cause 
will surely prosper." King Olaf then gave to 
Leif a man and a woman, both Gaels, and assured 
him that if he had need of fleetness, this couple 
would serve him, for they were as swift as deer. 
Haki and Haekia, the Irish runners, will be 
heard of again. What followed this conversa- 
tion is told by the sagas in a simple and straight- 
forward manner. 

When his ship was ready for the voyage, Leif 
put to sea. For a long time he was tossed about 
upon the ocean and finally came upon lands of 
which hitherto he had had no knowledge. "There 
were self-sown wheat-fields and vines growing 
there. There were also those trees growing there 
which are called 'mausur' and of all these they 
took specimens." On resuming his voyage, 



A NEW LAND 23 



Leif rescued a shipwrecked crew, took the men 
with him to Greenland, and procured them quar- 
ters during the winter. On arriving at his home 
in Brattahhd he was well received by everyone. 
"He soon proclaimed Christianity throughout the 
land, and the Catholic faith, and announced King 
Olaf Tryggvason's message to the people, telling 
them how much excellence and how great glory 
accompanied this faith. . . .^ 

Exploration of the New Land. 

These were the principal events in a great 
discovery, though, for reasons that will be ex- 
plained, it did not prove a valuable one. At 
Leif 's home there was much talk of his accidental 
discovery, but his neighbors and kinsmen did not 
confine themselves merely to talking about ex- 
ploration. In the spring of 1005 Karlsefni aiiH 
Snorri fitted out their ship to search for the land 
discovered by Leif. Biarni and Thorliall with 
their crew joined the expedition. In all there 
were one hundred and sixty men. From the 
western settlement they sailed to Bear Island ; 
thence southward for two doegr- until they saw 

^Arthur Middleton Reeves, The Finding of Wineland the 
Good, p. 3G. 

2It is not certain wlietlier the term doegr, in ttie sagas, 
means a day of twelve hours or one of twenty-four. 



24 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

land. This country they explored and named 
Helluland; that is, the land of flat stones. Con- 
tinuing for two days more they came to a for- 
ested region, which they called Markland. An- 
other voyage farther southward brought them to 
a sandy shore. So long was it to sail by that 
they called it Wonderstrands. Afterward they 
put the Gaels ashore to explore the country be- 
yond. On their return, with an ear of "new- 
sown wheat" and a bunch of grapes, the expe- 
dition resumed its southerly course. Part of a 
winter was spent at one point ; then other long 
voyages were made and they rested for half a 
month. Here there was barter with the natives, 
who visited them in skin-canoes. They are de- 
scribed as ill-looking and swarthy men with ugly 
hair, great eyes and broad cheeks. The Norse- 
men built huts and remained for the winter. In 
the spring there was an unsuccessful battle with 
the natives, whom they called Skrellings. At 
this time there was some dissension ^mong the 
Norsemen. This internal weakness and the cer- 
tainty that there would be constant warfare with 
the savages convinced Karlsefni that life in that 
otherwise pleasant country would be a thing of 
constant dread. In the summer of 1006 he re- 
turned with the survivors to Greenland. 



WINELAND THE GOOD 



Intercourse with Wineland. 

Many later voyages were made to Wineland, 
Indeed, as late as 1121 Bishop Eric left Green- 
land in order to visit that part of his See. After- 
ward he was never heard from. For a long 
time Wineland was a geographical landmark, and 
occasional voyages were made thither. The at- 
tempt of Karlsefni, however, appears to have 
been the most serious that was undertaken for 
its colonization, but beyond the building of some 
huts and a few trading booths he attempted 
to erect no durable structures. Therefore we 
need not seek for architectural memorials of 
his brief sojourn. 

No historical student has the slightest doubt 
that the Norsemen discovered America almost 
five hundred years before Columbus arrived at 
the Bahamas. There is, however, no such un- 
animity of opinion concerning the latitude at 
which Leif was driven upon its coast or the 
places which Karlsefni explored. Speculation, 
it is true, has assigned certain regions to Hellii- 
land, Markland and Wineland. The last named 
was the most southerly and has been fixed in 
many places between Nova Scotia and Rhode 
Island. Though of some intrinsic interest their 
precise location does not greatly concern us. The 
important question is the fact of discovery. 



26 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Destruction of Greenland Settlements. 

Many races in western Europe claim to have 
discovered America in the remote past. These 
claims, however, rest on foundations very dif- 
ferent from those of the Norsemen. The story 
of their voyages to Wineland as well as their 
attempt to colonize it comes to us from Iceland 
rather than Greenland, because the settlements 
in the latter country were destroyed early in the 
fifteenth century in a succession of attacks by 
the Esquimaux. The Greenland ruins have been 
located, but as yet only a few of them have been 
carefully explored. Even this partial examina- 
tion has yielded many antiquities. Further work 
with the pick-axe and the spade, especially on the 
sites of the homesteads, the convent, the monas- 
tery and the churches, will no doubt tell us new 
facts about this vanished race. As Greenland 
was a Catholic country, it is possible that the 
Vatican archives may furnish additional infor- 
mation concerning that lonely outpost of Chris- 
tianity. Already they have told us much. In 
his Ecclesiastical History of Northern Europe, 
written during the eleventh century, Adam of 
Bremen makes mention of Wineland. Indeed, it 
is not improbable that he may have talked at the 
Norwegian court with men who participated in 
those distant voyages. 



ENGLISH IN ORIGIN 27 

Basis of England's Claim to North America. 
If, as has been said, the Norsemen discovered 
America four hundred and ninety-one years be- 
fore the arrival of Columbus at San Salvador, 
why have the people of the United States failed 
to commemorate that event? This question is 
easily answered. The United States developed 
from a confederation of thirteen colonies which 
England had either settled or conquered. That 
nation has always based her claim to North 
America upon the discovery of John Cabot and 
upon the alleged exploration of his son, Sebas- 
tian Cabot. English statesmen never admitted 
the right of the French, the Dutch or the Swedes 
to colonize the Atlantic coast of North America. 
John Cabot's expedition of 1497 was suggested 
by the startling success of Columbus, and we 
have no proof that he had "any knowledge of 
Norse exploration. It was long believed, indeed, 
that he had made a voyage to Iceland and then 
gained intelHgence concerning Wineland the 
Good. There is no evidence, accepted by recent 
Columbian students, that the great discoverer 
ever visited that island. In other words, modern 
historical experts are incHned to reject the Ice- 
land voyage. If Columbus knew even vaguely 
of Greenland's intercourse with a western world, 
that knowledge had no influence whatever upon 
his cherished project, for he sailed from Palos 



28 COLUMBUS AND HIS F'REDECESSORS 

not northwest nor even -westward but almost 
directly south. His discovery was as uncon- 
nected with the geographical opinions of his 
own and of former times as it was possible for 
it to be. Yet, as will appear, that was no isolated 
event. 

Norsemen did not found the United States. 

If the Norsemen, like the Spaniards who came 
in the fifteenth century, had a knowledge of the 
use of firearms, they would doubtless have held 
their ground against the sWarthy Skrellings of 
Wineland, and, perhaps, the history of the mod- 
ern world might have been very different from 
what it is. This, however, is speculation and 
belongs to the world of fancy. So long as the 
useful efforts of intelligence, courage and enter- 
prise are admired, the memory of Norse exploits 
will not perish. However, that race did not call 
the United States into existence. Their begin- 
nings resulted from other movements presently 
to be noticed. With the progress of these move- 
ments the sea-kings had no connection. 



CHAPTER IV. 
FRANCISCANS AND MARCO POLO. 

Overland Trade with Asia. 

The reader is not to suppose that in pursuit of 
trade the merchants of Europe went to China, to 
Siam or even to India. The ItaHan traders, who 
had a monopoly of this commerce, made the 
journey to Constantinople or to other ports on 
the Black Sea. There they purchased commod- 
ities that had come from the interior. The na- 
tive products of India were brought by Arabs 
to Mecca, where, as we shall see, John Cabot 
claimed to have been. Intelligent Europeans 
could hardly have met the men from central 
Asia without learning much about its resources 
and its people. Incidentally, they would hear 
something of Siam and of China. As a rule these 
merchants were not good writers, and their books 
tell us little. To this remark there was one 
notable exception. 

In the year 1260 Nicolo and Maf¥eo Polo, 
prosperous Venetian traders, made a successful 
29 



30 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

business venture in the Crimea. An uprising of 
Tartar tribes prevented their return. As they 
could not go back, they went forward as far as 
Bokhara, where they remained for three years. 
They then determined to visit "Kubla Khan," a 
party of whose envoys were about to return to 
Cathay (China). A year's journey brought them 
to his court, where they were kindly received. 
The great Khan asked them many questions 
about Europe, especially about its rulers, about 
the Pope and the Church. It was not long be- 
fore he sent them back as an embassy to the 
Pope. They were instructed to ask His Holiness 
to send a hundred missionaries to convert the 
people of Cathay to the Christian faith and in- 
struct them in the liberal arts. The dangerous 
homeward journey was begun, and in three years 
the merchants were at Acre, on the Mediter- 
ranean. 

Marco Polo Goes to China. 

Great was the disappointment of the Polos 
when they learned that the Pope was dead. They 
concluded, therefore, to return to Venice and 
remain until the election of his successor. There 
they continued for two years awaiting that event. 
As there seemed to be no prospect of its hap- 
pening, they resolved to return to Cathay and 



THE FAR EAST 



31 



report the failure of their mission. After ob- 
taining from the Papal Legate at Acre a letter 
explaining the situation, and taking with them 
some of the holy oil from the lamp of the 
Holy Sepulchre, they set out on their return. 
This time they were accompanied by Marco, 
the seventeen year old son of Nicolo Polo. They 
had not proceeded far when they were over- 
taken by a messenger, who informed them that 
the Legate had himself been chosen Pope. In- 
stead of sending one hundred missionaries, how- 
ever, the new Pope appointed two preaching 
friars. When the party reached Armenia the 
rumor of war caused the missionaries to turn 
back. The Polos resumed their journey and 
after travelling for three years arrived in 1275 
at the Khan's court in Shang-tu near Pekin. 
This was the place of wdiich Coleridge wrote: 

At Xanadu did Kubla-Khan 

A stately pleasure-dome decree. 

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran 
Through caverns measureless to man 

Down to a sunless sea. 

The Khan, who welcomed them graciously, 
made much of Marco, then twenty years of age. 

A Voyage from China. 

After serving the Grand Khan of all the Tar- 



32 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



tars for seventeen years, they had acquired con- 
siderable wealth, and became eager to return 
to their native land. That ruler was sending 
to Persia his young daughter, who had been 
asked in marriage by its Khan. His envoys 
had requested of Kublai permission for the 
Polos, who were familiar with the art of navi- 
gation, to accompany them. This favor was 
granted, and in 1292 a great fleet sailed away 
from Zaitum, the largest Chinese port of that 
time. N Before they arrived in Persia two years 
had passed, and during that time some of the 
envoys had died and the fleet had lost six hun- 
dred men. Though the Khan of Persia had died, 
the young maiden was well received by his 
brother, who had succeeded as ruler, and after- 
ward she was married to the Khan's son. Be- 
cause of its disturbed state the Polos were 
escorted through that country by troops of 
horse. After many hardships they finally ar- 
rived in Venice sometime in the year 1295. 

Polo taken Prisoner. 

A war breaking out soon after between Venice 
and Genoa, the wealthy Polos were asked to 
equip a galley. Marco sailed in command of 
this vessel and was captured in 1296, when the 
Venetian fleet under Dandolo was defeated by 



TRAVELS OF POLO 



33 



the Genoese. Polo was carried a prisoner to 
Genoa and remained there for three years. ^ It 
is generally believed that it was during this time 
that he dictated to a fellow-prisoner, Rustician 
of Pisa, The Travels of Marco Polo The Vene- 
tian.^ 

Polo in the Service of Kublai Khan. 

The Polos had scarcely arrived in Cathay 
when Marco began earnestly to study the lan- 
guages of the multifarious nations subject to 
Kublai Khan. Seeing that he was both clever 
and discreet, the great ruler soon employed him 
in the public service. In 1277, as is shown by 
Chinese annals, "a certain Polo was nominated 
as a second-class commissioner or agent attached 
to the imperial council." His public missions 
carried him to the provinces of Shansi, Shensi 
and Szechuen ; also to the wild country on the 
borders of Tibet, to the distant province of Yun- 
nan and into northern Burma. For three years 
he held the government of the great city of 
Yangchow. Again he was in southern Cochin- 
China, and perhaps also on a mission to the 
southern states of India. 

^Some authorities give the term of his imprisonment as 
one year. 

^See Introduction to this work by Masefield 



34 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



Polo's Travels. 

Seeing that the Khan appreciated all sorts of 
tidings concerning his distant subjects, Polo was 
careful to store his memory or his note-book 
with those matters that would please his mas- 
ter. These journeys sometimes took him through 
regions almost unknown till i860. ''In his ac- 
count of the desert of Gobi, he gives some de- 
scription of the terrors and superstitions of the 
waste, a description which strikingly reproduces 
that of the Chinese pilgrim, Suan T'sang, in 
passing the same desert in the contrary direction 
six hundred years before." Lop-Nor, through 
which the Polos passed on their way to Cathay, 
was not visited again by Europeans until it was 
reached by Prjevalsky in 1871. 

Whether his father and his uncle accompanied 
him on these distant missions we do not know. 
Pie visited Kankchow, the capital of Tangut, 
within the Great Wall, and, perhaps, Karako- 
rum on the north of the Gobi. He was sent to 
Ciampa (southern Cochin-China) a second time, 
and he may have gone twice on imperial busi- 
ness to India. 

Until recently the story of Polo was regarded 
with grave suspicion. It is now universally be- 
lieved that he was not only the greatest of 
mediaeval travellers but also a most veracious 



TRAVELS OF POLO 35 

one. It was in describing what he had never 
seen that he most frequently erred. He was the 
first European to trace a route across the whole 
longitude of Asia, naming and describing king- 
dom after kingdom; the first to make known 
China in all its wealth and vastness ; the first to 
speak of the new and brilliant court which had 
been established at Peking. For the first time 
Europeans learned from his book something 
more of Tibet than its name. In it they first saw 
the names : Burma, Laos, Siam, Cochin-China, 
Japan, Java, and Sumatra. From him they first 
heard of the Xicobar and the Andaman Islands, 
of Ceylon and its sacred peak. Polo was the 
first in mediaeval times to give any distinct ac- 
count of the secluded Christian kingdom of 
Abyssinia; he was the first to speak of Zanzi- 
bar and Madagascar. He takes his reader to the 
far north also, to Siberia and its Arctic shores; 
he speaks of white bears, of dog-sledges and of 
the reindeer-riding Tunguses.^ 

From having doubted many of the facts nar- 
rated by Polo, opinion so changed that to him it 
ascribed the introduction into Europe of several 
very useful inventions. As we shall see, there 
were flourishing missions of the Catholic Church 

^Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, Art. Marco Polo. 



36 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



in many of the principal cities of eastern China 
in the fourteenth century. There was also a 
regular overland trade between Italy and Cathay 
by way of Tana (Azov), Astrakhan, Otrar, 
Kamul and Kangchow. Many a traveller be- 
sides Polo might have brought from the Far 
East the idea of block-books, the mariner's com- 
pass and other important inventions. 

Among thirteenth century travellers in Asia, 
Polo was a prince. Certainly no one of them, 
and, perhaps, not all of them together collected 
an equal amount of information concerning that 
vast and mysterious land filled with splendors 
and, to many European minds, with things ap- 
palling. There were, it is true, other keen ob- 
servers and intelligent recorders, who crossed 
the rivers and the mountains of Asia and who 
knew its deserts and its plains. They did not, in- 
deed, possess equal opportunities with the 
trusted envoy of the Grand Khan. They trav- 
elled by different routes, visited different prov- 
inces and were interested in different matters. 
As we would expect under such circumstances 
each narrative, while containing much that is^ 
new, supplements and verifies the others. 

Friar John of Piano Carpini. 

It has been said that two friars undertook the 
toilsome journey to Cathay in the company of 



JOHX OF PLAXO CARPINI 



?^7 



the Polos and that they were diverted from their 
purpose by alarms of war. All missionaries, 
however, were not like these timid friars. On 
the contrary, the deeds of a great majority show 
them to have been distinguished by rare ener- 
gies of body as well as mind. Next in importance 
to Polo as a writer of that era was John of 
Carpini, a Franciscan friar. In his youth he had 
been a companion and in his maturer years be- 
came a disciple of St. Francis of Assisi. Before 
he was commissioned to go as envoy into Asia, 
he had been a prior of his order in Saxony, and 
a Provincial in Germany. Subsequently he went 
as an organizer into Spain and even visited the 
coast of Barbary. 

In Asiatic travel this celebrated man was not 
a follower of Polo but a predecessor. In fact, he 
entered that continent about a decade before 
Marco was born. In those days the merchant 
was often a follower of the friar. In 1245 Pope 
Innocent I\^ selected this accomplished man for 
the dangerous mission to the Tartars, wdio just 
at that moment threatened to overrun Europe. 
The battle of Liegnitz, April 9, 1241, threatened 
to cast Christendom beneath the feet of barbar- 
ous hordes. Though more than sixty years of 
age, the envoy set out on his perilous way with a 
single companion, a Polish friar, who went to 
act as interpreter. 



38 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

From Poland they travelled to Kiev. After- 
ward their journey lay across rivers and plains 
until they arrived at Kanev, where they came 
up with the Tartar outposts; thence they pro- 
ceeded to the Volga, finally arriving at the camp 
of Batu, a prince of the house of Jenghiz Khan. 
After an exchange of presents Batu allowed 
ihem to pass on to the Grand Khan in Mongolia. 
In one hundred days they journeyed 3,000 miles. 
Three months later they set out on their return 
with the Khan's brief message to the Pope. The 
supreme ruler of the Tartars said in a letter, 
written in Mongol, Arabic, and Latin, that for 
Christianity he was the scourge of God. This 
ominous threat was of but little consolation for 
the dangers and discomforts of their homeward 
journey. Frequently they slept on ground which 
they had scraped bare with their feet, and often- 
times their bed was the frozen snow. At the 
end of seven months they arrived at Kiev ; thence 
they proceeded to Lyons, where they delivered 
the imperious letter to the Pope. 

The Narrative of Friar John. 

On his return Friar John often told the story 
of their travels. In order to avoid its too fre- 
quent repetition he finally prepared an account of 
the strange lands through which they travelled 
and the strange inhabitants of those regions. 



JOHN OF PLANO CARPINI 



39 



This narrative is called the Book of the Tartars, 
Liber Tartaronim.^ The work is epic in char- 
acter, being almost without any personal note. 
Half a century ago a Mongol scholar bore testi- 
mony to the accuracy of its statements.- Portions 
of the work will be found in Hakluyt. About 
the middle of the last century an edition of this 
book was brought out by the Geographical So- 
ciety of Paris. This publication included also a 
narrative by Friar Benedict, the companion of 
John of Piano Carpini. 

Estimate of Friar's Merits. 

An English author, competent to speak not 
only on the dawn of modern geography but on 
every phase of its progress, describes this mis- 
sionary as "an honest and clear-headed and 

'^Liber Tartarorum is divided into eight chapters, which 
treat of the country and its people ; of their manners, 
character, and religion ; of the history, policy and tactics 
of the Tartars and the best method of opposing them. A 
single chapter describes the regions through which the 
travellers passed. 

This narrative is in many respects the chief literary 
memorial of European overland expansion before Marco 
Polo. It first revealed the Mongol world to Christendom ; 
it told of the nations conquered by the Mongols, of the 
nations which up to that time had successfully resisted 
them, and it included a list of Mongol princes. In a word, 
Friar John's Historia is of the utmost historical value. 

2Galsang Gombeyev, Historical and Thilological Bulletin 
of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. 



40 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

keen-eyed observer, neither timid nor cred- 
ulous,"^ and he adds: "We have gone a good 
way from Abbot Daniel, for in John of Piano 
Carpini, Christian Europe has at last a real ex- 
plorer, a real historian, a genuine man of science, 
in the service of the Church and of discovery."- 

Odoric of Pordenone. 

Odoric of Pordenone, one of the greatest trav- 
ellers of the Middle Ages, was born of a Czech 
family named Mattiussi, about the year 1286 at 
Villa Nuova, a hamlet near Pordenone in Friuli. 
He died at Pisa on the 14th of January, 1331, 
while en route to Avignon, then the residence of 
the Pope. In 1775, four hundred and forty-four 
years afterward, he was beatified. Like many 
other great missionaries of that era he was a 
member of the Franciscan order. The Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica, eleventh edition (1911), says 
that '*a remarkable extension of missionary 
action was then taking place" in the East. In 
April, 1318, Friar Odoric was sent thither. About 
1329 or 1330 he returned. 

Odoric went to Cathay by way of Tabriz, 
Erzerum and Sultanieh, places at which the 
Franciscans had houses. From Sultanieh he 
proceeded by Kashan and Yezd. By a circuitous 

^Beazley. Prince Henry the Navigator, p. 91. 
^ ^Ibid., p. 92. 



ODORIC OF PORDENONE ^i 



route he arrived at the Persian Gulf. In this 
journey he appears to have passed PersepoHs 
as well as the regions of Shiraz and Bagdad. 
At Hormuz he embarked for India and landed 
near Bombay. For the Christian missionary that 
must have been a land of terror, because it was 
only a short time before his arrival that four of 
his brethren met death at the hands of the 
Mohammedan governor. Thei^ remains Odoric 
collected and took with him for the purpose of 
burial in China. Afterward he visited Mala- 
bar, Cranganore, and Quilon, proceeding thence 
to Ceylon and to the shrine of St. Thomas near 
Madras. 

From India, Odoric sailed in a Chinese junk 
to Sumatra. He visited A^arious ports on its 
northern coast before embarking for Java. 
Thence he seems to have sailed along the coast 
of Borneo on his way to South Cochin-China and 
Canton. Thus was the route between China and 
Persia twice travelled by Italians. 

Travels of Odoric. 

Leaving Canton the missionary visited in suc- 
cession the great ports of Fukien, at one of 
which he found two houses of his order. In one 
of these he deposited relics of the four friars 
who had suffered martyrdom in India. Leaving 
Fuchow he proceeded across the mountains to 



42 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



Hangkow, then known as Cansay, or Quinsai. 
The splendors of this renowned city he described. 
To a description of Kin-sai, Marco Polo devotes 
an entire chapter. In it are noticed its canals 
and streets; its 12,000 bridges and its circum- 
scribing moat. He also estimates the number 
of inhabitants with their various occupations, 
their government, their commerce and their 
somewhat unwadike character. By him it w^as 
considered the largest, the most splendid and the 
wealthiest city in the world. Marignolli, a Papal 
legate, has also left us a description of this 
magnificent city. 

By way of the Grand Canal, Odoric went on to 
Cambulac ( Peking) . Here he remained for three 
years attached, it is supposed, to one of the 
churches founded by that famous friar, John of 
Monte Corvino, then in extreme old age. Odoric 
did not return to Europe by water, but by land. 
He crossed the kingdom of Prester John and 
Casan. The venturesome missionary seems, also 
to have entered Tibet, and it is believed that he 
visited Lhasa. Next he is found in northern 
Persia. His further progress is not so clearly 
described. It is probable, however, that he 
passed through Tabriz. Finally he arrived safely 
in Padua. During much of his travels his com- 
panion was one Friar James, an Irishman who 
had gone to Italy to join the Franciscan order. 



ODORIC OF PORDENONE 43 



"Mandeville" Borrowed from Odoric. 

*The fame of his vast journeys/' says the 
Britannica, from which is derived much of this 
outHne of Odoric's travels, "appears to have 
made a much greater impression on the laity 
of his native territory than on his Franciscan 
brethren." However this may have been it was 
at the request of his superior, Giudotto, that 
Odoric, while at the monastery of St. Anthony 
of Padua, dictated to Brother William of 
Solagna an account of his travels. His wondrous 
journeys and voyages were soon known in Car- 
niola as well as in Friuli. In the Latin, the 
Italian, the French and other languages there are 
known to exist seventy-three manuscripts of 
Odoric's narrative. This fact would indicate 
that the geographical knowledge contained in 
it must have become a familiar possession of the 
Latin and the neighboring races. It was given 
a still wider circulation by "Sir John Mande- 
ville," who composed his own travels from the 
account of Odoric and the narratives of others. 
To this unchivalrous knight we shall refer pres- 
ently. 

After Marco Polo, Odoric of Pordenone is the 
first European who mentions Sumatra. The 
cannibalism and the community of wives which 
he ascribes to its natives belonged to it or to 
some of the adjacent islands. In his account of 



44 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

the Chinese he mentions many peculiarities 
omitted by Polo. He notices the extravagant 
finger-nails of the natives, the custom of com- 
pressing women's feet, and the practice of fish- 
ing with tame cormorants. 

Friar William at Karakorum. 

Another renowned traveller of that epoch was 
William of Rubrouck, a Franciscan friar, who is 
believed to have been a native of Rubrouck, in 
mediaeval French Flanders. All that we know 
of him is derived from his own narrative and 
from the statements of his contemporary and 
brother-Franciscan, Roger Bacon. He was sent 
to the East by King Louis IX for the purpose 
of introducing Christianity. St. Louis appears 
to have sent into Tartary an earlier mission also. 
So unsuccessful was this embassy, however, that 
he regretted that he had sent it. Friar William, 
therefore, disclaimed any official character. He 
went as far as Karakorum to the court of the 
Great Kahn. There in the presence of the Khan, 
and before three umpires, a Christian, a Moham- 
medan and a Bhuddist, Friar William maintained 
a public disputation. The Khan seems to have 
been desirous of discovering the truth of these 
religions, so that he might adopt the one which 
was adjudged by his secretaries to have the best 
foundation in reason. However, no decision was 



WILLIAM OF RUBROUCK 45 



rendered, probably because the interpreters were 
unable adequately to state the cause of Chris- 
tianity. The return, which was made in the 
summertime, permitted the missionary to take a 
more northerly route. 

Additions to Scientific Geography. 

The sprightly and interesting account of 
Friar William's travels, written for the King of 
France, made important additions to scientific 
geography. It also made contributions to 
ethnography, philology, Asiatic morals and com- 
mercial customs. A writer in The Encyclopaedia 
Britannica (nth edition) sees in. the account 
of this missionary, who tells so little of himself, 
"an honest, pious, stout-hearted, acute and most 
intelligent observer, keen in the acquisition of 
knowledge, the author of one of the best narra- 
tives of travel in existence. His language in- 
deed is dog-Latin of the most un-Ciceronian 
quality; but it is in his hands a pithy and trans- 
parent medium of expression. . . . He 
gathered a mass of particulars, wonderfully true 
or near the truth, not only as to Asiatic nature, 
geography, ethnography and manners, but as to 
religion and language." 

Giving an example of Friar William's quali- 
fications for observing what was passing before 
his eyes the same writer has the following: 



46 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

"The current money of Cathay is of cotton 
paper, a palm in length and breadth, and on this 
they print lines like those of Mangu Khan's 
seal: — 'imprimunt lineas sicitt est sigilltmi 
Mangu — a remarkable expression. They write 
with a painter's pencil and combine in one char- 
acter several letters, forming one expression : — 
'facinnt in una figura plures lit eras compre- 
hendentes unam dictionem; a still more remark- 
able utterance, showing an approximate appre- 
hension of the nature of Chinese writing." 

Work of Friars Verified. 

Without doubt Rubruquis, as he is often 
called, was the most brilliant and literary of 
mediaeval travellers. By some modern writers 
far inferior to him in natural acumen and can- 
dor this informal envoy of St. Louis is character- 
ized as an untruthful blunderer. A pseudo- 
scientific age rejected with almost indiscriminate 
disdain many mediaeval narratives that possessed 
all the earmarks of truth. That age has passed 
away forever. Since i860 explorers have veri- 
fied many of the statements that were once cast 
aside with indignation or contempt. 

In 1307 Hetoum, an Armenian of princely 
family, who became a monk of the Praemon- 
strant order, dictated his Historiae Orientis, a 



EXTENSION OF CHRISTIANITY 



47 



work on the East, which he was able to prepare 
from his own extraordinary acquaintance with 
Asia and its history in his own time. This book 
made its appearance in the French language. 

In the last quarter of the thirteenth century 
it was not possible for the Pope to send to 
Cathay as many as one hundred missionaries, 
the number requested by Kublai Khan. That 
great ruler expected, no doubt, that the learning 
and the religion of Europe would assist some- 
what in taming the more turbulent of his sub- 
jects. The Holy Father could not have been 
indifferent to the benefits that would result from 
the conversion of the Tartars. Indeed, the early 
missions to Mongolia and Karakorum were not 
unconnected with a fear of Asiatic invasion. This 
consideration must have been in the mind of 
Innocent IV, when he sent Friar John of Piano 
Carpini into the interior of Mongolia, and in 
the mind of St. Louis also, when he sent \\'\\- 
Ham of Rubrouck as far as Karakorum. 

John of Monte Corvine. 

Marco Polo had scarcely sailed from Zaitum 
when, in 1295, a Francis.can friar, John of ]\Ionte 
Corvino, began his labors in the most populous 
part of the pagan world. At first the results of 
his activity were not encouraging, but to the 



48 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



missionary it mattered not that success was 
banished from his field or that hope itself seemed 
to have fled; he toiled on. Years of endeavor 
were finally rewarded by a multitude of con- 
verts ; the faithful Friar was joined by several 
coadjutors and in time was consecrated Arch- 
bishop of Peking, then called Camhulac. The 
beginning of the fourteenth century saw Chris- 
tianity flourishing in the principal cities of east- 
ern China. 

It is impossible to give here even a hasty 
sketch of Friar John's career. This essay must 
leave to the student of Church history an ac- 
count of his attempt under a commission of the 
Emperor Michael Palaeologus to negotiate with 
Pope Gregory X for a reunion of the Greek and 
the Latin churches. He also must do justice to 
the Franciscan's merits as a missionary in the 
Nearer as well as in the Middle East, and as an 
envoy to many of the leading personages in the 
Mongol world. This study is chiefly interested 
in his contributions to geographical science. 

Christianity in China. 

In December, 1291 (ar 1292) he wrote the 
earliest account of the Coromandel coast fur- 
nished by any European. \\^hen next heard from 
he is in Camhulac or Peking. Thence, on Jan- 



JOHN OF MONTE CORVINO 49 

iiary 8, 1305, and again on February 13, 1306, he 
wrote letters describing the progress of his mis- 
sions in the Far East notwithstanding Nestorian 
opposition. These letters also allude to a Roman 
Catholic community that he had founded in India 
and to an appeal that he had received to preach 
in ''Ethiopia." He also describes the overland 
route from the Black Sea, and the sea-route from 
the Persian Gulf to Cathay. 

In 1303 he was joined by his first colleague, 
the Franciscan, Arnold of Cologne; in 1307 Pope 
Clement V created him archbishop of Peking, 
and sent seven bishops to consecrate and assist 
him. Of these only three arrived (1308). Three 
other suffragans were directed to go thither in 
13 12, and of these at least one reached the East. 
When at an advanced age this statesman, travel- 
ler and missionary died in 1328, heathen vied 
with Christian in doing him honor. At last far 
off Cathay w^as illuminated by the light of the 
gospel, and, for a moment it seemed as if the 
religion and the civilization of Europe wxre 
about to become established forever among the 
follow^ers of Confucius. 

Intercourse with China Ceases. 

But the Mongol dynasty was even then totter- 
ing on the verge of destruction; half a century 



50 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



ended the prosperity of the Christian missions 
in Cathay, and one hundred and forty years 
after the death of Jenghiz Khan his feeble 
descendants were hurled from power by a revolt 
of the native Chinese. Night came down on the 
East; Islam recovered control over Central Asia, 
and again the world of Christendom shrunk to 
almost its former limits. With the narrow policy 
that has distinguished them down to our own 
time the Chinese kept foreigners at a dis- 
tance. Missionaries, it is true, were regularly 
sent forth from Avignon or from Rome, but 
they went out into darkness and were heard of 
no more. 



CHAPTER V. 

ITALIAN SUPREMACY IN 
NAVIGATION. 

The geographical conquests described in the 
preceding section were to a great extent won on 
land. In the same era, however, there was con- 
siderable exploration by sea. As in the over- 
land travel, so in maritime enterprise the repub- 
lics of Italy were the leaders of Europe. Chief 
among these city states were : Amalphi, Pisa, 
A^nice, and Genoa in ancient Liguria. The 
Dorias, the Vivaldi, and the Malocelli of Italy 
were the Greeks and the Phoenicians of the 
Middle Ages. In that epoch not a little of the 
geographical knowledge of the ancients had be- 
come a sort of dim tradition. 

Italians attempt to find a sea-route to India. 

In the year 1270, while the elder Polos were 
awaiting in Venice the election of a new Pope, 
Lancelot Malocello discovered the Canaries. In 
the next decade, between 1281 and 1291, Tedisio 
Doria and Ugolino de A'ivaldi, while trying to 
51 



52 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



"go by sea to the ports of India to trade there," 
arrived at Cape Non, in Barbary, and, according 
to another account, "sailed in the Sea of Ghinoia 
(Guinea) to a city of Ethiopia." Though they 
were never heard of after 13 12, the fame of 
these Genoese mariners did not fade in the 
mists of the Sea of Darkness. Their daring 
voyage continued long to attract the attention of 
scientific geography and commerce. These in- 
trepid seamen were the pioneers of Christian 
exploration toward the South, for in that direc- 
tion even the hardy Norsemen had never passed 
the Pillars of Hercules. 

Italians Teach Navigation. 

As is well known, the first stage of South 
Atlantic exploration was purely Italian. The 
second was chiefly marked by the efforts of 
Spanish states to ecjuip vessels and send out 
explorers under Genoese captains.^ In 13 17 
Emmanuel Passanha, a Genoese, became Ad> 
miral of Portugal. In T341 three ships manned 
by the Portuguese, "other Spaniards," and 
Italians left Lisbon to search for the Rediscov- 
ered Islands of Malocello. Five days afterward 
they discovered land. The archipelago then 
found was probably the Fortunate Islands of 

ifieazley, Prince Henry the Xavigator^ p. 107. 



AX ACCIDEXTAL DISCOVERY 



53 



Greek geography, more familiar to us as the 
Canaries. Jayme Ferrer left Majorca in 1346 
for the River of Gold, but of him and his galley 
no tidings ever reached Europe. 

An English Discovery. 

To a later generation (about 1370) belongs the 
interesting story of an Englishman, Robert 
Machin, who eloped with Anne d'Arfet from 
Bristol, and by a relentless northeast wind was 
driven off the coast of France, which he was at- 
tempting to make. After thirteen days his 
crew sighted Madeira. During the involuntary 
voyage Machin's mistress had died of terror and 
exhaustion. Five days later his men laid him 
beside her ; then in the ship's boat, which they 
had saved, they reached the coast of Africa, 
where they were promptly enslaved by Barbary 
pirates. A Spanish fellow-prisoner, who had 
been ransomed in 1416, was again taken, on his 
way to Seville, by the Portuguese Captain Zarco, 
a servant of Prince Henry. In 1420 this enter- 
prising navigator sent Captain Zarco, with his 
accidental knowledge, on an expedition which 
re-discovered Madeira. This romance of the sea 
is told here because of its bearing upon a legend 
connected with the discovery of America. 



54 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



French Exploration. 

About the voyages of the French predecessors 
of Prince Henry there is much vagueness. Be- 
tween 1364 and 1410 the men of Dieppe and of 
Rouen are said to have opened a regular trade 
with the coast of Guinea. Concerning the genu- 
ine Norman voyage of Bethencourt in 1402 it 
is different, but this made no contribution to 
geographical knowledge. Tidings reached Ro- 
chelle of visits, accidental and designed, which 
the Spaniards had made to the Canaries. In 
July, 1402, Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de 
la Salle left France to conquer in the sea a king- 
dom for themselves. Owing to a disagreement 
between the leaders the enterprise was not com- 
pletely successful. However, several of the 
islands became Christian colonies. There is noth- 
ing in the history of French undertakings of that 
era to indicate that the mariners of that coun- 
try had any definite knowledge of either Guinea 
or the way thither.' 

Italians Independent of Arabs. 

Before the era of the Crusades the scientific 
geography of Christian Europe was derived 
mainly from the Greeks. Though the Arabs 
made but slight addition to the body of classical 
knowledge, they at least preserved what they 



THE MARINER'S COMPASS 



55 



had inherited. From the ninth century forward 
a growing interest in learning marked many of 
the Christian countries of Europe. With the 
impetus given to navigation by the Norsemen 
and the awakening caused by those huge mih- 
tary invasions of Asia both the mind and the 
empire of Christendom began to expand. The 
Christian states, especially those along the Medi- 
terranean, soon became independent of the geo- 
graphical theory of the Arabs. In the }'ear 1400 
Italian mariners used compass, charts, timepiece 
and astrolabe as well as did Arab seamen. 

It is an English monk, Alexander Neckam, 
of St. Albans, who makes the earliest mention 
of the ''black ugly stone." Writing about 1180 
on The Natures of Things, he tells us that it was 
not merely the secret of the learned, but was 
commonly used by sailors. ''When they cannot 
see the sun in cloudy weather, or at night, and 
cannot tell which way their prow is tending, they 
put a Needle above a Magnet which revolves till 
its point looks North and then stops." It may 
have been Flavio Gioja, or some other citizen of 
Amalphi, who fitted the magnet into a box, and 
by connecting it with a compass-card, made it 
easily available. Before the time of Prince 
Henry the Italians as well as their Spanish 



56 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

pupils were familiar with the use of the 
mariner's compass. 

Italian Science Dominant. 

Long after Italian leadership in exploration 
had passed to the rising western nations, Italian 
science remained in control of geographical 
theory. The Venetian charts of the brothers 
Pizzigani (1367), the maps of the Camaldolese 
convent at Murano, 1380 and 1459, ^^^ the work 
of Andrea Bianco in 1436 and 1448 were the 
most important of Mediaeval charts, after the 
Florentine map of 1351, known as the Lauren- 
tian Portulano. Space will not permit even an 
emuneration of many others that are known. It 
will be sufficient to state that until after the death 
of Prince Henry the Navigator, in 1460, Italian 
draughtsmen held the field. Their supermacy 
in that and in the succeeding age is skillfully 
summarized by an able American historian. 
"Educated men from Venice, Genoa, Pisa and 
Florence emigrated to other lands, carrying with 
them science, skill and ingenuity unknown except 
in the advanced and enterprising Italian city 
republics and principalities. Italian mathemati- 
cians made the calculations on which all naviga- 
tion was based ; Italian cartographers drew maps 
and charts ; Italian ship-builders designed and 
built the best vessels of the time; Italian cap- 



ITALIAN SUPREMACY 



57 



tains commanded them, and very often Italian 
sailors made up their crews ; while at least in 
the earlier period Italian bankers advanced the 
funds with which the expeditions were equipped 
and sent out."^ 

iCheyney. The European Background of American His- 
tory, p. 42. 



CHAPTER VI. 
PORTUGUESE ACHIEVEMENT. 

Portugal Once a Leader. 

Were it not that the loss of their possessions 
has occurred in times so recent, many of the 
Portuguese nation could scarcely believe that 
their ancestors had founded a vast colonial em- 
pire. Though Portugal still gives laws to dis- 
tant dependencies, it would not be easy to dis- 
cover in the revolutionary kingdom of our day 
any proofs that it was once the home of a giant 
race of navigators and statesmen. Nevertheless, 
Portugal had her era of maritime supremacy, a 
supremacy as unquestioned as was that of Spain 
or of Britain in later times. It is the purpose 
of these paragraphs to show not how that 
supremacy was lost, but in what manner it was 
acquired. 

Henry the Navigator. 

Portugal is geographically a part of Spain, and 

there is a political party in the latter country 

which believes that there should be in the Iberian 

peninsula but one government and one state. 

58 



INFLUENCE OF HENRY 59 



Centuries of successful warfare, however, gave 
the gallant inhabitants of Portugal the right 
to be a distinct people. When they had waged 
successful war against the hosts of Islam, they 
turned their victorious arms against their fellow 
Christians in Castile. Next there was imposed a 
long peace upon certain restless elements at home. 
In its strange and eventful story, crowded though 
it is with names of note, Henry the Navigator 
stands out conspicuous and alone. He towers 
above all the heroes in his country's history. 

To the military qualities of his people he gave 
a new tendency. He stirred to life in them an 
appetite for knowledge. The result of this 
awakened interest in matters non-military was 
the finding of a vast continent beyond the Sahara, 
the discovery of another continent in the western 
seas, the opening up of the Indian Ocean to the 
commerce of Europe and the location of the 
Moluccas. Indeed, it was the seamanship of a 
Portuguese that was first to trace a route around 
the world. In a word, Prince Henry had much 
to do with the establishment of modern commer- 
cial civilization. 

For Portugal and for mankind the union of 
King John I and Philippa, daughter of "time- 
honored Lancaster," was most fortunate. Of 
their five sons, Edward the Eloquent, Pedro the 
Great Regent, Henry the Navigator, John the 



6o COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Constable, and Ferdinand the Saint, we are now 
interested in only one. 

To his brother Edward, Henry was indebted 
for assistance in his schemes and for bringing 
them into fashion at a time when enterprise 
seemed about to slacken, but his greatest auxili- 
ary was his brother Pedro the Traveller, "who, 
after visiting all the countries of Western 
Europe and fighting with the Teutonic knights 
against the heathen Prussians, brought back to 
Portugal for the use of discovery that great mass 
of suggestive material, oral and written, in maps 
and plans and books, which was used for the 
first ocean voyages of Henry's sailors."^ 

Henry, surnamed the Navigator, was born 
March 4, 1394. Notwithstanding attractive 
offers, while still a youth, he chose the life of a 
seaman and a student. By the year 1415 he had 
grown to manhood and had acquitted himself 
with credit in the campaign which ended in 
the capture of Ceuta. After that event he estab- 
lished himself in his Naval Arsenal at Sagres, 
near Cape St. Vincent, where for more than 
forty years he spent his time considering plans 
of discovery. Almost annually until his death 
in 1460 he fitted out expeditions to discover new 
lands, to add to the greatness of his country and 

iBeazley, Prince Henry the Navigator, p. l.'^6. 



CONQUEST OF CEUTA 6l 



to spread the Christian faith. These were the 
grand objects to which he consecrated his useful 
Hfe. 

Before the age of Prince Henry, Marco Polo 
had traced the outline of southern Asia, and, as 
we have seen, at least mentioned Madagascar. 
Concerning the shape of Africa the designer of 
the Florentine map (1351) had made a remark- 
able guess. In his conjecture, the Italian carto- 
grapher could not have been assisted by any 
tradition of the Tyrians whom Pharaoh Necho 
sent down the coast of Africa six hundred years 
before Christ. After three years those mariners 
returned with a story that they found Africa to 
be an island. In the time of Prince Henry the 
Arabs still preserved their monopoly of the trade 
with India. 

Prince Henry as a Soldier. 

In the year 141 5 King John brought together 
80,000 Portuguese soldiers and seamen for the 
siege of Ceuta. Merchant adventurers from 
England, France and Germany accompanied the 
expedition. By September of the same year the 
conquest was so far completed that King John 
and his chivalrous sons sailed for Portugal, 
leaving their splendid prize to be defended by a 
small garrison commanded by a subaltern. Three 
years later this force was hard pressed as well 



62 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

by Moors from the back country as by other 
Moors from Granada. The latter had blockaded 
the city by a powerful fleet. This circumstance 
brought Henry, who had taken a leading part in 
its capture, with a force to the relief of the be- 
sieged. The Moors from Granada were cut to 
pieces and the native Moslems again driven into 
the interior of Morocco. Henry's second visit 
was made in the year 1418. 

The second expedition confirmed Ceuta in 
possession of the Christians, but Henry was not 
content with the victory to which his skill and 
gallantry so largely contributed. He had con- 
cluded, even against the advice of his officers, 
to attempt the capture of Gibraltar on the op- 
posite shore. With the two Pillars of Hercules 
in Christian hands commerce would be safer in 
the western Mediterranean as well as on the 
Atlantic coast. The conquest of Gibraltar, then, 
was designed to promote Portuguese exploration 
in North Africa. However, a storm broke up 
the fleet of Henry and before it could be reassem- 
bled the opportunity had passed. 

In his two visits to Ceuta, Prince Henry 
learned from masters of caravans and from 
Moorish prisoners much about the interior of 
Africa. He learned how merchants passed from 



OBJECTS OF THE PRINCE 63 

Tunis to Timbuctoo and to Cantor, on the 
Gambia. This inspired him with the idea of 
seeking those lands by way of the sea. When his 
captains would reach the mouth of the Senegal, 
they could identify it by the tall palms growing 
there. Of this fact he had been told by his 
"tawny" prisoners. Henry had many reasons 
for desiring to explore the coast of Guinea : 

1. He wanted to know something of the 
country beyond Cape Bojador. Concerning it 
there were no reports by sailors and there was 
no account in books. 

2. H there were any good ports or any Chris- 
tian people in that country, he was anxious to 
trade there, for European nations had no com- 
merce in those regions. 

3. He feared there were no Christians there at 
all. If not, he could ascertain the strength of 
the Moors, whom he regarded as stronger in 
those parts. 

4. In all his fighting with the Moors he had 
never received any assistance from that side of 
Africa. From this fact he concluded that there 
were no Christians there. If there were, he 
wanted to meet them. We are also told that, 
perhaps, the conclusions of astrology had a share 
in the Prince's interest. 

Finally his great desire was to spread the 
.Christian faith and to redeem the vast tribes 



64 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

of men dwelling in the regions of the interior. 
Thus it will be seen that Henry had in mind the 
conquest of a land empire in North Africa as 
well as the exploration of its coast. 

Systematic Exploration. 

Even from a King who was not his father 
Prince Henry would have been certain to re- 
ceive some reward for his services in Africa. 
As it was, he was -made Governor for Hfe of the 
Algarves, the southern province of Portugal. 
After his appointment, in 1419, he began at once 
to rebuild and enlarge the old naval arsenal near 
Point Sagres or Cape St. Vincent. Indeed, even 
before the capture of Ceuta he had equipped a 
few expeditions for discovery. With the account 
of these we are not now concerned. At Sagres, 
adjacent to the port of Lagos, Prince Henry con- 
tinued for more than forty years to apply him- 
self to problems of navigation and systematic dis- 
covery. Geographical information was reex- 
amined, maps and nautical instruments were 
corrected and schemes of discovery thought out 
by Henrv' and the experts that he brought round 
him from many of the enlightened nations of 
Europe. 

Italian and Portuguese Exploration. 

On the desolate promontor^^ of Sagres, on three 



OBSERVATORY OF SAGRES 65 



sides washed by the Sea of Darkness, Prince 
Henry built for himself a palace, a chapel, a 
study, an observatory, and, for his helpers, a 
village. He is said to have secured at much 
expense the services of one Master Jacome from 
Majorca, a ])ractical navigator, skilled in the 
making of both maps and instruments. From 
Sagres went out sailors well instructed in sea- 
manship and equipped with the theory and rules 
for designing charts. In a word, Prince Henry 
improved among the Portuguese the art of map- 
making and the construction of caravels. His 
advance was based upon the results achieved by 
the Italians. The fame of Henry attracted to 
his settlement mariners of that nation, such as 
DeXolli and Cadamosto, scientific draughtsmen 
like Fra Mauro and Andrea Bianco. 

First Successes. 

The results of the nautical activity at Sagres 
soon began to be apparent. In 141 5 a voyage had 
been made to the Grand Canary, but, as we have 
seen, that was already known to the French, as 
far back as 1402, and had been conquered by 
Bethencourt. John Gonzalvez Zarco and Tristam 
Vaz were caught in a tempest near Lagos and 
carried to Porto Santo (Holy Haven), which 
they named. On their return to Sagres they re- 
ported the island to be worth permanent settle- 



66 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

ment. In acting upon their recommendation 
Henry authorized the discoverers and one 
Bartholomew Perestrello to undertake its colo- 
nization. He gave them two ships ; also seed- 
corn, sugar-cane and vines. 

It was in returning from Porto Santo, already 
a Portuguese colony, that Captain Zarco met the 
Spaniard Morales, who had been a fellow- 
prisoner of the English seamen that had been 
driven to the Madeiras. In 1420, with Morales 
as guide, Zarco sailed from Lagos, found and 
explored Machin's island, of which he took pos- 
session in the name of King John, Prince Henry, 
and the Order of Christ. 

On his return to Portugal, Zarco was enthu- 
siastically received at court and made governor 
of Madeira for life. Afterward the governor- 
ship was made hereditary in his" family, while 
Tristam Vaz was given a captaincy in the north- 
ern half of the island. In 1425 Henry began 
its more systematic colonization. Wood, wheat, 
dragon's blood, and wine were among the early 
exports. Family registers" were carefully kept 
and even a census of the little community was 
ordered by the Prince. 

Don Pedro, The Traveller. 

Notwithstanding the success of Zarco but little 
progress had been made in the endeavor to trace 



ARABIAN LEGENDS 67 

the coast-line south to Guinea. In 1428 Don 
Pedro, Henry's elder brother, had returned from 
his travels, bringing with him books and charts 
and the Mappa Mundi given him in Venice. It 
is believed that this influenced later voyages to 
the south and to the west. In 143 1 the Portu- 
guese re-discovered the Azores. Up to that 
time they had made no headway in their efforts 
to pass the dangerous currents of Cape Bojador. 
These expeditions were a constant and heavy 
source of expense and they brought no profits. 
Though this discouraged the nobility as well 
as the merchant classes, Henry persevered. 

After many Portuguese failures Captain Gil 
Eannes, in 1434, doubled the barrier of Bojador, 
and found, contrary to the representations of 
Arabian geographers, no sea monsters, water 
unicorns or serpent rocks but tranquil waters 
and a rich and pleasant land. At last the terrors 
of the Saracen legends had vanished. 

The Land of the Negroes. 

In 1435 Baldaya sailed 390 miles beyond Cape 
Bojador, sent on shore two mounted noblemen 
who penetrated into the country until they met 
and fought with nineteen natives armed with 
assegais. They returned, however, without any 
prisoners. The captain of the vessel with a 
stronger party- in the ship's boat then rowed up 



68 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

a river. In taking a prisoner, as he had been 
instructed to do, Baldaya was not more success- 
ful than the two young men who had first been 
sent on shore. If he was not able to bring back 
.a native to the Prince, he brought tidings inter- 
esting to Christendom. Beyond the zone of 
Islamism that faced Europe in north Africa were 
wild tribes of negroes. These had been seen and 
ev^n fought with, but as yet there had been 
established no intercourse with them. 

Loss of Ceuta. 

By reason of the death of his father and one 
of his brothers, Henry found it necessary to 
assist in ruling the kingdom. For seven or eight 
years this withdrew him from the work of dis- 
covery. This essay is not interested in the 
second invasion of Morocco, and the consequent 
loss of Ceuta, or with the quarrels of political 
factions in Portugal. By 1440 Henry succeeded 
in restoring peace to the kingdom. After that 
service he returned at once to Sagres and re- 
sumed his work. 

Gold Dust from Guinea. 

In 1 44 1 Antam Gonsalvez with a single caravel 
and a small crew sailed far down the African 
coast and succeeded in capturing a man and a 
woman. Another Portuguese vessel, under Nuno 



yEGRO SLAVERY 



69 



Tristam, arrived soon afterwards and a joint 
expedition into the interior resulted in the cap- 
ture of about ten other natives. These were 
taken to Portugal, but later were brought back 
to Africa for ransom. In this exchange the 
Portuguese obtained, besides native captives, a 
little gold dust, the first ever brought by Euro- 
peans from the coast of Guinea. 

Beginning of the Slave Trade. 

The Sahara was soon passed, and a later ex- 
pedition, in 1448, built a fort which soon became 
a considerable center of European commerce. 
This was one of the first steps in modern coloni- 
zation. The arrival in Portugal of cargoes of 
gold dust and slaves hushed the murmurs caused 
by the expense of the Prince's experiments. 
Without a license no one could trade in the new 
regions, but permission was applied for and 
cheerfully granted. In 1444 six caravels set out 
on an exploring voyage. It was about this time 
that the African slave trade began to be an ele- 
ment of European commerce. 

Henry welcomed the arrival of prisoners, 
whom he ordered to be treated with all kind- 
ness. By educating these and returning them 
to their homes he had hoped to win all the tribes 
to Christianity. His captains, however, often 
overlooked these important considerations and 



70 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



were frequently ruthless in seizing Moors and 
Negroes. An English writer says that a Black- 
Moor hunt came to be regarded, "like the kill- 
ing of the wild Irish in the sixteenth century," 
as the best of sport. So easy is it for greed to 
turn awry the most enlightened plans. 

So long as the followers of the Prince were 
influenced chiefly by the prospects of plunder 
and the profits of slave-hunting not much could 
be done for either discovery or Christianity. It 
was necessary for Henry first to convert his 
friends to his own lofty principles. Real progress 
was made "by the slow increase of that inner 
circle which really shared Henry's own ambition, 
of that group of men who went out, not to make 
bargains or do a little killing, but to carry the 
flag of Portugal and of Christ farther than it 
had ever been planted before, 'according to the 
will of the Lord Infant.' "^ 

Man- hunting Retards Discovery. 

Some captains had altogether ceased to have 
any interest in discovery. The voyage of Lan- 
<;arote, which in all its phases was a man-hunt, 
resulted in the capture of 235 blacks. When 
these arrived in Portugal, they were treated with 
much kindness. The younger were taught 

*Beazley, Prince Ileriry the Navigaior, p. 2li. 



MAN-HUNTING y\ 

trades, while those who showed abiHty to 
manage property were set free and allowed to 
marry. Ultimately they all became Christians. 
Though they seem to have been treated very 
much like the members of the families with 
which they lived, it must be remembered that 
in seizing them there was considerable slaughter, 
and in allotting them among the captors there 
was a ruthless separation of families. Henry 
finally succeeded in imposing some sort of a 
check upon the buccaneering spirit of those trad- 
ing on the African coast. 

Diaz Reaches Cape Verde. 

This is not a history of the institution of 
slavery in either its gentler or more cruel 
aspects. Whatever may have been Henry's mo- 
tives, and they were undoubtedly high, the 
system permitted hideous excesses. Upon his 
grand work, systematic exploration, the slave 
trade acted as a check. Though most explorers 
turned aside from objects of discovery, one was 
at last found faithful to the ideals of the Prince. 
Diniz Diaz passed Cape Blanco, Cape Palmar 
and other landmarks and entered the mouth of the 
Senegal. Resuming his voyage he reached Cape 
Verde beyond which there stretched no western 
land. After these achievements he returned to 
Portugal. 



72 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

By the year 1445 there had grown up in 
Portugal almost a universal interest in these 
Guinea voyages, as by that time they began to 
be called. On August 10, 1446, there sailed 
from Lagos the largest fleet that had gone down 
the African coast since the Senate of Carthage 
had sent Hanno to colonize the country of 
Guinea. Of caravels, galleys and pinnaces there 
were twenty-seven. In that armada sailed 
nearly all the surviving navigators who had won 
renown in ocean voyages. Joined by three re- 
turning vessels the thirty ships with their crews 
arrived amongst the Moors and after capturing 
more than half a hundred agreed to separate. 
Some crews concluded to return at once to 
Portugal. Six caravels sailed southward until 
landing on Cape Verde they found carved upon 
a tree the arms of the Infant and the words of his 
motto, Talent de Bien Faire, two thousand miles 
from Sagres. This immense fleet accomplished 
little for discovery, 

X^oyages continued to be made with great regu- 
larity ; those members of the crews who landed 
were in danger of being ambushed or being 
wounded by the poisoned arrows of the natives, 
who were both well armed and capable of fight- 
ing. However, from the multitude of reports 
Henry was able so far as concerned the west 



COLOXIZATION 73 

African coast to correct the Mappa Mundi ; also 
to perceive that on the part of its designer it 
was mere conjecture. 

Insular Possessions Colonized. 

From 1448 to 1460, the last twelve years of 
Henry's life, but little progress had been made 
in exploration. There was, however, not a little 
activity in discovering and colonizing islands of 
the western archipelagos. In the lifetime of 
the Prince all the Azores had been found and 
colonized. It does not seem to have occurred to 
any of these navigators to seek, as afterwards 
Columbus sought, islands or mainlands in the 
boundless seas to the westward. Some of this 
settlement w-as made by private enterprise. 
Among the early colonists were certain Flemings. 
To that nation belonged Jacques de Bruges, one 
\'an der Haager, and Job van Heurter. In 143 1 
an expedition of Henry had re-discovered these 
islands. Sixty years later they contained some 
thousands of people. 

Cadamosto's Discoveries. 

In the year 1455 Luigi Ca da Mosto, a Vene- 
tian, who had taken refuge at Sagres from a 
storm, obtained the consent of Prince Henry to 



74 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

equip at his own expense a vessel for the pur- 
pose of. trade and discovery. From Lagos, 
Cadamosto and a Portuguese captain sailed in 
four days to Porto Santo. A few days later 
they took their departure for Madeira ; then they 
steered to the Canaries, three hundred and 
twenty miles distant. From these islands Cada- 
mosto sailed for the mainland. Though he has 
written an ample account of his voyages as well 
as of the countries and the peoples that he saw, 
he made no important discoveries on his first 
expedition. Finally he returned to Portugal to 
refit. 

Later Cadamosto sailed again for the Canaries ; 
on this voyage he discovered three islands that 
were unsettled. Thence he steered once more for 
the mainland and was soon back in the country 
from which he had recently returned to Portugal. 
This time his trading venture was more success- 
ful, but he made no important discoveries be- 
sides the new islands found in the Canaries. He 
had gone so far south that the North Star had 
sunk almost to the horizon. The two voyages 
of this Venetian are well known because he wrote 
an ample and interesting account of them. 

The last of the many expeditions equipped in 
Henry's lifetime was that intrusted to Diego 
Gomez. This followed close upon the voyages 
of Cadamosto. By his kindness and generosity 



MISSIONARY IN GUINEA 75 

to the chiefs whom he met, Gomez did much to 
efface the bad impression which Portuguese 
slave-hunters had made at the outset. Above 
all he had promised one of the negro lords of 
the Guinea regions to bring a missionary to 
them. This he was unable promptly to do be- 
cause King Affonso was then conducting in 
Africa a w^ar which required much of his atten- 
tion. Finally there w^ere brought together in 
1458 the presents promised King Nomimansa. 
The Abbot of Soto de Cassa w^as sent as mis- 
sionary; a member of the royal household 
also joined the expedition. At this time, 1458, 
it became necessary to deal harshly with those 
traders who sold arms to the Moors. One of 
these offenders was thrown alive into a fire and 
burned to death. The expedition of Gomez was 
the last that Henry w^as destined to see. "In the 
year of Christ 1460," says his faithful body-ser- 
vant, Diego Gomez, "the Lord Infant Henry fell 
sick in his own town, on Cape St. Vincent, and 
of that sickness he died on Thursday, November 
13th, in the selfsame year." 

Results of Henry's Expeditions. 

Henry's captains had dispersed the monsters 
of the deep, and had extended the traditional 
limits far toward the south and the west. His 



76 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

last enterprise began the conversion of the native 
Africans, as his earher ones had commenced 
their civiHzation. His trading sites grew into 
colonies, which tended to make the civilization 
permanent. These exploits were enough for 
immortality but to his credit are recorded count- 
less things besides. In modern times he was the 
originator of continuous and systematic dis- 
covery and the founder of a school of navigators 
whose achievements surpassed anything that he 
had ever known. 

Map of Fra Mauro. 

King Affonso V, the nephew of Henry, had 
done his best to get the great map of Fra Mauro 
completed. This map, which came out in 1459, 
was the most comprehensive that was ever seen, 
and included all the achievements of Henry. 
The King also undertook to regulate the slave 
trade ; he had the good fortune to be served by 
Fernando Po and by the pilots Fernandez and 
Esteeves. The two last named had crossed the 
equator and wxre rewarded by a view of the 
southern heavens. King Affonso dying, his work 
was taken up by his successor, John H. 

St. George da Mina. 

The trade of the Guinea coast was secured by 
the building of a fort at St. George da Mina ; 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE yy 

Henry's fort was reconstructed and the unknown 
portion of the coast designated for exploration. 
A church also was built at La Mina. In 1484 
Diego Cam reached the mouth of the Congo. In 
the following year he sailed six hundred miles 
beyond. In i486 Bartholomew Diaz sailed to 
explore as much of the undiscovered coast as 
possible. Envoys were sent to search for Prester 
John . another expedition was instructed to 
ascend the Senegal as far as the Nile; hnally a 
fourth party started for Cathay by a north-east 
passage. 

Diaz Rounds Cape of Good Hope. 

Beginning in i486 Bartholomew Diaz, in a 
single voyage of sixteen months, solved the 
problem that Henry had proposed to his country- 
men seventy years before. Passing Walvisch 
Bay, the most southerly point reached by Diego 
Cam, Diaz set up his pillar at a place still known 
as Diaz Point ; thence he sailed on, passing the 
mouth of the Orange River ; steering well out to 
sea he ran on before the wind hoping that by a 
great sweep he would be able to pass the end of 
the continent, which could not now be far off. 
An antarctic coldness and heavy seas led him to 
change his course toward the east. Finding, 
after five days, that there was no land in that 
direction he sailed northward. At last he saw 



78 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

the shores of a bay where cowherds were watch- 
ing their cattle. He then followed the coast for 
a great distance and found it tending steadily 
northward. Diaz had sailed far to the south of 
Africa and was now on its eastern coast. When 
his ships had reached the Great Fish River, the 
crew refused to go farther. After setting up his 
last pillar, Diaz turned back, certain of only one 
fact; namely, that he had missed the Cape. It 
was while he was coasting slowly backward and 
in a despondent state of mind that he sighted 
the promontory around which lay the route to 
India. He had gone beyond it five hundred 
miles. 

Exploring East Africa. 

At the time that Diaz was returning around 
the Cape of Good Hope, Covilham and his com- 
panions had left Lisbon for the purpose of ex- 
ploring the northern coasts of the Indian Ocean. 
After visiting Calicut on one side and Mozam- 
bique on the other, Covilham wrote home, "If 
you persist, Africa must come to an end. And 
when ships come to the Eastern Ocean let them 
ask for Sofala and the island of the moon 
(Madagascar), and they will find pilots to take 
them to Malabar."^ King John's Cathay fleet 

iBeazley, Prince Henry the Navicjator, p. 319- 



VASCO DA GAMA 79 



found not a north-east passage to China but a 
frozen island off the north coast of Asia. This 
was named Nova Zemlaia or Nova Zembla. 

Portuguese Reach India. 

The great work begun by Prince Henry was 
approaching completion. In 1497 Vasco da 
Gama made the outward voyage to India and by 
1499 had returned. The exploit of Bartholomew 
Diaz, the greatest before the time of Columbus, 
had been forgotten in the national rejoicing over 
this fulfilment of the Infant's dream. This 
essay will not consider the manner in which 
Affonso d'Albuquerque founded for Portugal a 
vast colonial empire. 

Consequences of Henry's Systematic Work. 

European forts and settlements were soon 
established on both the western and eastern coasts 
of Africa. Ormuz, Ceylon, Goa and Malacca 
were all in Christian hands.- Subjects of Lisbon 
kings travelled in Japan, the Zipangu of Marco 
Polo and Columbus, and as early as 15 17 opened 
up a trade with Cathay, then called China. These- 
achievements do not indicate, however, the full 
extent of Portuguese activity in that stirring 
epoch. By the year 1520 Alvarez and other 
Catholic missionaries had made a complete ex- 



8o COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

ploration of Abyssinia, in Malabar millions of 
natives were converted by St. Francis Xavier 
and other Jesuits, and at a later time (1599) the 
old Christian Church of India united with Rome. 
All of these consequences, and a multitude that 
cannot be even enumerated, resulted from the 
great exploring and colonizing movements set 
on foot by Prince Henry the Navigator. A few 
words concerning his character and the motives 
which sustained him in his grand ambition will 
conclude this summary of Portuguese triumphs. 
When in their progress southward Portuguese 
navigators passed Cape Bojador an account of 
their discoveries w^as promptly conveyed to the 
Pope. The approval of these enterprises was 
solicited, and Henry, forseeing that many voy- 
ages would follow, prayed for a "concession in 
perpetuity to the crown of Portugal of whatever 
lands might be discovered beyond Cape Bojador 
to the Indies inclusive," especially submitting to 
His Holiness that "the salvation of the natives, 
was the principal object of his labors." The 
Holy Father promptly complied with the Prince's 
petition. A bull then issued was afterward con- 
firmed by Popes Nicholas V and Sixtus IV. The 
limit of each expedition was appropriately 
marked by a stone cross, and the navigator who 
erected it farthest south was invariably rewarded 
by the generosity of Henry. Notwithstanding 



MOTIVES OF HENRY 8l 



the approbation of the Church and the induce- 
ments of the Prince, it required more than fifty 
years for the mariners of that day to creep 
southward along the five thousand miles of Afri- 
can coast. As he repeatedly states in his letters, 
it was neither the wish to extend the dominions 
of Portugal nor the desire to engage in profitable 
trade with the natives of Africa that sustained 
for a lifetime his noble efforts. Though not 
indifferent to the advantages which his country 
derived from those discoveries, Prince Henry's 
great anxiety was to confer on the heathen the 
blessings of Christianity. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE 
AND THEORY OF COLUMBUS. 

Genesis of the Project of Columbus. 

Thus far this essay has been considering a few 
of the landmarks of history. Concerning their 
large outlines there is little disagreement. Even 
in the field of Norse achievement there is much 
unanimity. It is mainly in the details that the 
authorities differ.- Now we enter a zone in which 
there is much speculation. Here seem fewer 
resting-places for the careful student. Objective 
facts are easy to record and to examine ; the 
operations of the human mind are not so. Our 
problem is nothing less than to describe the 
genesis of the grand project of Columbus. Its 
elements may be stated, but precisely how his 
intellect turned into shape the mass of facts 
collected by his industry, we shall probably never 
know. Indeed, we seldom know much about 
beginnings. When, for instance, we believe that 
we have at last traced to the place of its origin 
some beautiful literary expression, a little re- 
82 



COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL 83 

search discovers it farther away, more dim, 
perhaps, but scarcely less elegant. Greater per- 
severance will enable us to locate it in a region 
still more distant, but it is not often that we dis- 
cover the native land of beauty. The project 
of Columbus, however, possessed none of the 
conventional characteristics of literature, nor was 
it to be worked out by the art of the engineer, 
who, by a succession of improvements upon a 
familiar contrivance, constructs a machine novel 
in design and charged with new functions. 

After glancing at the slight sketch of Portu- 
guese achievement, given in the preceding sec- 
tion, the reader will not be surprised to find 
Christopher Columbus trying his fortunes 
amongst a people already renow^ned in coloniza- 
tion and discovery. It appears to have been 
sometime between 1471 and 1476, when the 
maritime activity of Portugal was approaching 
its zenith, and just before the navigators of that 
nation accomplished their greatest exploits, that 
he arrived in Lisbon. Diego Cam had not yet 
reached the mouth of the Congo, while the 
epoch-making voyage of Bartholomew Diaz was 
at least a decade in the future. 

The Youth of Columbus. 

From the moment of his birth until the hour 



84 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

of his death almost every important event in 
the career of Columbus has been a battle- 
ground for historians. Many different dates 
have been assigned for his birth, and various 
places have competed for that honor. The rank 
of his family and even its identity have been dis- 
puted. Neither the manner nor the extent of 
his education has been shown with any degree 
of certainty. Even after he had ceased to be 
obscure the same ill-fortune attended him. 
Indeed, one of the most interesting events of his 
entire career, the equipment of that memorable 
expedition which discovered America, is not yet 
known in all its important details. It is not 
improbable that some day it will be. Finally 
there exists a little doubt as to the present rest- 
ing-place of his remains. Columbus is not, how- 
ever, the only illustrious person about whom we. 
should like to be better informed. The fact that 
Shakespeare, unchallenged monarch in the realm 
of letters, is believed to have been educated in 
the grammar school at Stratford fails for many 
to explain his undoubted superiority in eloquence 
and poetry. Notwithstanding all this doubt con- 
cerning Columbus many facts have been well 
established by the researches of four centuries. 
From the information now in our possession 
it appears that Christopher Columbus, the great- 



YOUTH OF COLUMBUS g^ 



est navigator of recorded time, was born about 
the year 1446.^ It is true that the date 145 1 is 
supported by the fact that in 1470 he signed a 
legal document, and that the formal statement 
was then made that he was upwards of nineteen 
years of the age." It has likewise been established 
that the place of his birth was Genoa, in Italy. 
By occupation his parents were simple weavers, 
as he w-as himself. Indeed, it is probable that 
all his kinsmen were artisans. He does not seem to 
have been sent to any university, but received such 
an education as was given to the sons of plain 
people. If Columbus had been a boy of average 
mental power, this instruction would not have 
done much for him. He was not, however, a 
common youth, but a young man of genius, and 
we seldom know precisely how men of genius 
accomplish what they do. In some way, not yet 
known to us, Columbus mastered in a few years 
not only the entire art of navigation but he 
learned the Latin language and read voluminously 
in the geographical works written in that tongue.^ 
It may be true, as is sometimes said, that his 
writings exhibit some indifference to the rules 
of Latin grammar. It was not, however, in the 
commonwealth of letters that Columbus won 

^Bourne, Spain in America, p. 0. 

"Vignaud. Real Birth-date of Columbus, pp. 74 101. 

*Bournp. Spain in America, p. 0. 



86 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

immortality. He left to posterity no fine poem, 
no splendid oration. His achievement was of 
greater epic grandeur. 

His Reading. 

After he had attained to his twentieth year 
he was still working at his trade as a weaver. 
Precisely when and under what circumstances 
he did his reading, we do not know. Concern- 
ing the* nature of his studies, however, there can 
be no sort of doubt. He read with microscopic 
eye the General History and Geography of Aneas 
Sylvius,^ later Pope Pius H. When this author 
states that the frigid and the torrid zones are 
uninhabitable, Columbus notes that this is dis- 
proved by the voyages of the Portuguese in the 
south and by the English and the Germans, who 
sail the northern seas. 

Another work that he had read with attention 
was the Image of the World,^ a vast compilation 
by Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly. When this prelate 
and philosopher asserts that the torrid zone is 
uninhabitable because of the excessive heat, 
Columbus writes this note on the margin : "It 
is not uninhabitable, because the Portuguese sail 
through it ; in fact, it is teeming with people, and 
near the equator is his Serene Highness the King 

^Historia Reriim Uhiqtie Gestarum (Venice in 1477). 
Hmago Mundi, printed between 1480 and 1483. 



INTEREST IN THE EAST 



?7 



of Portugal's castle of Mine, which we have 
seen." Of all the statements of Pierre d'Ailly 
perhaps none impressed Columbus more than the 
quotation from Aristotle that "between the end 
of Spain and the beginning of India the sea is 
small and navigable in a few days." 

Columbus scanned the Scriptures with as much 
care as he had examined the two authors men- 
tioned. Indeed, he seems to have consulted all 
the serious books that he believed would assist 
in solving the problems that he was considering. 
About 1485 there was published, at Antwerp 
or Gouda, a Latin versio'n of the travels of Marco 
Polo. Perhaps this book was for the purpose 
of Columbus the most important of all. In his 
Latin notes written on the margins of these 
volumes there is revealed an unusual interest in 
the East and a disposition to set right, by his 
own experience and knowdedge, the accepted 
notions of geography. 

Interest in Western Lands. 

Books did not solve for Columbus all the 
problems of geography. Every sign that he had 
observed, as well as every indication brought 
to his attention of the existence of land beyond 
the western isles, he carefully noted. He also 
recorded tl-ie reports of voyages of exploration. 
' In the case of no navigator of that age or 



88 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

earlier," says an eminent authority, "is there such 
impressive evidence of protracted study of all 
available sources of information in regard to any 
specific problem of geographical exploration."^ 
Much, if not all, of this preparatory work was 
done while he was living in Portugal, whither he 
had gone early in his nautical career. 

During 1479 or 1480 Columbus married one 
Felipa Moniz Perestrello, a kinswoman of 
Bartholomew Perestrello, one of Prince Henry's 
navigators. They removed from Lisbon to the 
island of Porto Santo, where, it is believed, they 
lived for a time with Isabel Moniz Perestrello, 
the mother of Felipa. Precisely at what date we 
do not know, but almost certainly after the mar- 
riage, Columbus received from his mother-in-law 
the papers, maps, and charts of her deceased 
husband, who had himself been a considerable 
traveller. This incident, it appears, determined 
the vocation of Columbus for maritime discovery. 
At any rate, his friend Las Casas and his son 
Ferdinand explicitly state that it was this cir- 
cumstance which determined him to devote him- 
self to exploration. Except for its bearing upon 
a singular story, presently to be related, it matters 
little whether Columbus lived in Lisbon or in 
Porto Santo, for it would not have been possible 

^Bourne, Spain in America, p. 11. 



WESTERN LANDS 89 

for him altogether to have escaped the universal 
interest in exploration. It is certain that he made 
several voyages, in Portuguese ships, to the coast 
of Guinea and that in the opposite direction he 
sailed to the British Isles. 

Proofs of Existence of Western Lands. 

In his History of the Indies, Las Casas tells us 
distinctly that Columbus derived much informa- 
tion from the maps and charts of Perestrello, and 
he adds that the future discoverer made the 
Guinea voyages to learn in a practical way the 
Portuguese method of navigating the African 
coast. Las Casas learned this from Diego, the 
son of Columbus. Other interesting statements 
are made by Ferdinand Columbus, who wrote 
the life of his father. "It was not only, " says 
his son and biographer, *'this opinion of certain 
philosophers, that the greater part of our globe 
is dry land that stimulated the admiral ; he 
learned also from many pilots, experienced in 
the western voyages to the Azores and the island 
of Madeira, facts and signs which convinced him 
that there was an unknown land towards the 
west. Martin Vicente, pilot of the King of 
Portugal, told him that at a distance of four 
hundred and fifty leagues from Cape St. Vin- 
cent, he .had taken from the water a piece of 
wood sculptured very artistically, but not with an 



go COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

iron instrument. This wood had been driven 
across by the west wind, which made the sailors 
beHeve that certainly there were on that side some 
islands not yet discovered. Pedro Correa, 
brother-in-law to the admiral, told him, that near 
the island of Madeira he had found a similar 
piece of sculptured wood, and coming from the 
same western direction."^ 

The colonists of the Azores are said to have 
related that during protracted west winds the 
sea, especially in the islands of Graciosa and 
Fayal, threw up pines of a foreign species. 
Others told that one day on the shores of the 
island of Flores there were found the dead 
bodies of two men whose features differed" en- 
tirely from the features of Europeans. What- 
ever may have been wafted across the Atlantic 
in the fifteenth century, in our time not only 
tropical seeds from America but the remains of 
cargoes wrecked in the AA'est Indies are de- 
posited annually on the coasts of Ireland, of 
the Hebrides, and of Norway.^ With the facts 
and the fictions of the western isles we may be 
sure that Columbus was well acquainted. He 
disdained no source of information. 

For more than fifty years before the arrival 

^Major, The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal Surnanicd 
the Navigator, p. 348. 

^Humboldt, Examcn Critique, II, 246-251. 



AN ANCIENT PROBLEM 91 



of Columbus in Lisbon the Portuguese had been 
interested in the problem of finding a water route 
to India, but there was nothing new about that 
undertaking, because his own countrymen, Doria 
and Vivaldi, had made the attempt as early as 
the thirteenth century. What was novd in the 
enterprise of the Portuguese was the scientific 
manner in which they attacked this ancient 
problem. They patiently traced the coast-line 
of west Africa ; they sought a northeast route 
around the Scandinavian peninsula, and dis- 
covered Nova Zembla; they likewise sent a 
party to explore the east African coast, and by 
its leader were urged to persevere in their work. 
As we have seen, the Portuguese, by following 
their own plans, finally met with perfect success. 
An eager mind like that of Columbus must 
soon have become acquainted with the chief re- 
sults of Portuguese maritime activity. In some 
of their voyages he had participated. Up to 1471, 
one of the earliest dates assigned to his arrival in 
Portugal, the success of their attempts to reach 
India by either the southeastern or the north- 
eastern route was not encouraging. At any rate, 
the Portuguese method of working out the 
problem does not appear to have attracted 
Columbus. In the annals of Portugal he does 
not appear as a leader in any undertaking, or 



92 



2 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



as an applicant for a command in any expedition 
following the usual courses taken by its mariners. 

The slender measure of success thus far 
achieved by Portuguese navigators may have 
been one of the circumstances that contributed 
to turn the thoughts of Columbus in a different 
direction, or confirmed him in conclusions that 
he had already reached. After all, the cardinal 
points of the compass are soon exhausted. The 
overland routes to India and Cathay had been 
abandoned because, after the .fall of Con- 
stantinople, they were deemed too hazardous 
for commerce. By way of the northeast or the 
southeast' success seemed distant; only the 
western route was left, and one is puzzled to 
understand why the Portuguese navigators, 
with their undoubted courage and seamanship, 
had never tried it. The Greek theory of the 
sphericity of the earth could not have been 
unknown to the scientists who surrounded 
Prince Henry, but in it they had no practical 
belief. 

From our present information on the subject 
it seems certain that the idea of a westward 
voyage to the countries of the Grand Khan was 
never urged upon the consideration of a Portu- 
guese or other European ruler until the moment 
when Columbus submitted his plan to King 
Joao. About the time of his leaving Palos, 



PROPOSES WESTERN VOYAGE 



93 



August, 3, 1492, he wrote in his Journal that 
his Sovereigns had commanded him to go to 
the East, not by land, as was customary, but 
by way of the west, "whence until to-day we 
do not know" certainly that any one has gone." 

Opinion of Eratosthenes. 

In a preceding section it was said that dur- 
ing the period of Macedonian ascendency, when 
western Asia was somewhat Hellenized, the 
Greeks became familiar with all those countries 
between the river Indus and the Mediterranean 
Sea. Of course, it was not intended to state 
that this was their first contact with Asia. More 
than two centuries before Christ, Eratosthenes^ 
of Alexandria not only knew of the existence of 
India but actually discussed the possibility of 
going thither by a voyage from Spain. We 
have seen that the Phoenicians sailed still earlier 
in the Mediterranean and in their era of pros- 
perity maintained a trade with India. In ex- 
amining the theory of Eratosthenes, Strabo,- 

lEratosthenes was born about 27G and died in the year 
194 B. C. 

=Strabo, born about G3 B. C, had before him the results 
of Eratosthenes, Ilipparchus. and Posidonius. The chief 
conclusions of astronomers concerning the sphericity and 
the dimensions of the earth, its relation to the celestial 
bodies, and the great circles of the globe were then con- 
sidered as well established. The passage quoted is from 
Book I, of Strabo, p. 85. ch, 65, 



94 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

another eminent Greek scientific writer, has the 
following remarkable commentary : 

"And so, if the great extent of the Atlantic 
Ocean did not "stand in the way, it would be 
possible for us to sail on the same parallel line 
from Spain to India: and that which would be 
left beyond this distance would not exceed a third 
part of the entire globe: since the circle drawn 
through Sina on the parallel which we reckon 
our distance from India to Spain is less than 
200,000 stadia. Here also he [Eratosthenes] 
does not reason correctly — for speculation con- 
cerning that part of the temperate zone in which 
is the habitable earth is the province of those 
who understand mathematics, but not so con- 
cerning this (so we call that part which we 
inhabit and of which we have knowledge. But 
there may be two or more habitable lands in the 
temperate zone and especially in the neighbor- 
hood of the parallel which passes through Sina 
and the Atlantic Ocean.)" 

From this passage, which contains the specula- 
tions of at least two of the great ' geographers 
of antiquity, it is clear that the Greeks knew 
something of the world, around them, and that 
the notion of the sphericity of the earth is not 
a modern one. 

The Latin Poet Seneca. 

As may be seen from the following verses of 



SCIENCE AND POETRY 



Q=; 



Seneca, the Romans, too, were dreaming on 
things to come. This poet inspires the chorus 
in Medea to extol the courage of those mariners 
and travellers who had ventured on the bound- 
less deep before the motions of the stars were 
known and before the felon winds were named. 
Since the expedition of the Argonauts, he tells 
us, the sea is open to all. There is now no need 
of a vessel shaped by the hand of Pallas. All 
sorts of craft sail the soundless seas. The poet 
then contrasts the earliest navigations with those 
of his own time, when the East and the West 
come close together. In our travelled world' 
nothing remains as it was, for every boundary 
has been removed and new cities have sprung 
up in a new land. To-day the Indian drinks 
of the icy Araxes,^ the Persians quaff the waters 
of the Elbe and the Rhine. Then there shall 
come a time when the ocean shall break its 
bounds and a vast world shall appear, and 
Tiphys- shall discover new lands and Thyle^ 
shall no longer be the most distant part of the 
earth. 

^The Aras, a river of Armenia. 

^Tiphys was the pilot of the ship of the Argonauts. 

^Iceland, an island situated between the north and 
the west seas, the most distant point in that direction 
which was known to the Romans. 



g6 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Nunc iam cessit pontus et omnes 
patitur leges : non Palladia 
compacta manu regum referens 
inclita remos quaeritur Argo — 
quaelibet altum cumba pererrat; 
terminus omnis motus et urbes 
muros terra posuere nova * 

nil qua fuerat sede reliquit 
pervius orbis : 

Indus gelidum potat Araxen, 
Albin Persae Rhenumque bibunt. 
venient annis saecula seris, 
quibus Oceanus vincula rerum 
laxet et ingens pateat tellus 
Tethysque novos detegat orbes 
nee sit terris ultima Thule.^ 

Columbus Knew the Prophecy in Seneca. 

Columbus was greatly impressed by this cele- 
brated passage. In 1501 he began the prepara- 
tion of his manuscript work, De Las Profecias. 
In it these verses of Seneca are twice quoted 
by the discoverer, and he adds to them a Spanish 
translation. Without doubt Columbus, saw him- 
self selected by the centuries as the instrument 
in the fulfillment of this prophecy. This is no 

^Medea, Act II (chorus), lines 364-379. 



SCIENCE AND POETRY 



fanciful opinion of the author of this essay. It 
is a fact familiar to the students of the great 
epoch of discovery that in the library of Ferdi- 
nand Columbus at Seville there was found a 
copy of Seneca, published in Venice during the 
year 1510. In it, on the margin opposite the 
lines quoted, may be read in the handwriting 
of the discoverer's son: "Haec prophetia ex- 
pleta e per patre meum, Christoforu Columbu 
Almirate Anno 1492."^ 

From his writings we know that Columbus 
was familiar with all that the ancients, both 
poets and philosophers, had written concerning 
the probable sphericity of the earth and of its 
having in the antipodes not only land but people. 
As a student, if not a maker of maps he must 
have seen charts showing the location of those 
legendary islands in the Atlantic, vi::., the island 
of the Seven Cities, Atlantis and the isle of St. 
Brandon. Indeed, these fabled islands held their 
ground not only in popular imagination but in 
"the cards of navigation" until the eve of the 
discovery of America, for we read in William 
de Worcestre that as late as June 15, 1480 a 
ship, equipped at the cost of John Jay. junior, 
left Bristol, England in search of the imaginary 
islands of Brazil, and of the Seven Cities. The 

^Thaoher, Columbus, I. 170. 



98 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

reader need not be told that commander Thomas 
Llyde or Lloyd returned, after a considerable 
voyage, without having made any discovery.^ 
To him Hy-Brasail, "on the ocean's blue rim," 
must have looked, as it did to the Connaught 
boatman, "like an Eden, away, far away." To 
Columbus, as to many of his contemporaries, the 
names of these enchanted islands must have been 
familiar. 

Asiatic Islands Known to Europeans. 

Europeans knew of other islands, somewhat 
shadowy, it is true, but of undoubted existence. 
Marco Polo without having visited Zipangu 
(Japan), mentions it as*an island in the eastern 
ocean, 1500 miles from the coast of Manji.- 
He tells us that, in 1264 A. D., Kublai Khan 
undertook its conquest. Mention is also made 
of considerable commerce between that great 
kingdom and Cathay. The Sea of Chin, in which 
Zipangu is situated, was reported to contain no 
fewer than 7,440 islands, mostly inhabited. If 
this oriental' estimate included the Moluccas, it 
does not appear so extravagant. En route to 

iHarrisse. John Cahot (the Discoverer of North America) 
and Sebastian His Son, p. 42. 

2From Ning-po the distance to the nearest part of the 
southern island is 1,500 li, or Chinese miles. This is 
equivalent to about 500 Italian miles. 



SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE 99 

Persia the Polos sailed through the Malay 
archipelago. Again between 13 18 and 1326 
Odoric of Pordenone touched at some of the 
more important islands of this group. In a 
word, Europeans knew of the existence of many 
islands off the coast of Asia and from long 
residence in China they learned much concerning 
those that they had not seen. If Columbus did 
not obtain his information from the narratives 
of the friars, and he appears to have known 
nothing of them, it was easy for him to get it 
from the "Travels of Sir John Mandeville," a 
work compiled from the accounts of the Fran- 
ciscan missionaries and ^ from the writings of 
others. In the mind of Columbus, then, there 
were two groups of islands wide apart, the 
imaginary ones off the coast of Europe, and 
those beyond Cathay. We have no evidence, 
however, that he applied for an expedition to 
seek out the fabulous ones. This is the more 
singular because he is usually represented as 
a dreamer. 

"Sir John Mandeville." 

It is not the purpose of this essay to discuss 
the mystery of ''Mandeville." It is, perhaps, 
sufficient to state that it is now generally be- 
lieved by experts that this alleged English knight 



lOO COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

was an educated physician of Liege, one Jehan 
a la Barbe, otherwise John de Bourgogne, who 
wrote one or two essays on aspects of his own 
science, and who assisted in compihng those 
imaginary travels so long ascribed to an English 
name. In all probability his principal voyages 
and journeys were prudently made in the books 
of actual travellers and, to adapt the fine phrase 
of John Locke, within sight of the smoke of 
his own chimney. It is remarkable that Thacher, 
one of the ablest and the most industrious of 
American Columbian students, should not have 
suspected the real nature of Mandeville's work.^ 
We shall leave to historians of English literature 
the task of finding some new candidate for the 
distinction of being "the father of English 
prose." "Sir John's" connection with either Eng- 
lish literature or oriental travel appears to have 
been exceedingly slender. For the purpose of 
this study, however, it does not make the slightest 
difference whether he had ever left Liege.- His 
book, which had an extraordinary popularity, was 
based upon the narratives of some of the greatest 
travellers of all time. 

^Columhns, I, 170 (note). 

2It is possible that be travelled to Egypt or Palestine. 
He was never in Cathay. 



INFLUENCE OF POLO loi 

Influence of Marco Polo. 

We cannot say to what extent Columbus was 
influenced by the antique legends of an enchanted 
Brazil or a lost Atlantis. They find no place in 
his petitions or his projects. We do not know 
whether he was especially influenced by the 
Travels of Sir John Mandeville, but we do know 
that he was profoundly impressed by the nar- 
rative of Marco Polo. Somewhere in the il- 
Hmitable waste of waters that separates Spain 
from Zipangu (Japan) were the imaginary is- 
lands of fable ; there were also unnumbered real 
islands in the Sea of Chin. This he already 
knew ; grander things lie was destined to know. 
Portuguese pilots who had sailed amongst the 
western isles had seen signs that they under- 
stood not ; but things dumb to them spoke to 
Columbus. Up to that happy hour it was in 
vain that wind and wave had telegraphed a mes- 
sage from the \\'est. Other men than Columbus 
had doubtless perceived dimly the possibility of 
finding in the Sea of Darkness islands more 
remote than any which had yet been found by 
the Portuguese, for almost every expedition 
widened somewhat the field of knowledge. The 
merit of Columbus is not that he confidently 
expected to find islands and mainland as he 
sailed across the Atlantic, but that, ignoring the 
splendid work of the Portuguese, his mind 



I02 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

grasped the grand design of reaching the East 
by sailing westward. 

The Toscanelli Correspondence. 

According to -the narratives of Las Casas and 
Ferdinand Columbus, the idea was first suggested 
by letters of the Florentine physician and 
astronomer, Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli, which 
they reproduce. On this interesting subject, the 
late Professor E. G. Bourne says: 

"From the first of these documents, written 
in June, 1474, we learn that Toscanelli's friend, 
Fernam Martins, living in Lisbon and interested 
in the Portuguese efforts to reach the Indies 
by way of Africa, had brought before King 
Alfonso the opinion he had heard Toscanelli ex- 
press that it would be a much shorter way to 
the Indies to sail due west. The King then de- 
sired to hear from Toscanelli the reasons for 
such a view. The astronomer's reply contained 
in the first letter could have afforded little as- 
surance to Alfonso, for there is no reasoned 
argument in it, but merely a series of assertions 
unsupported by evidence, followed by an allur- 
ing description of the wealth of the Orient de- 
rived from Marco Polo. The text was ac- 
companied by a chart divided into equal spaces 
which depicted the Atlantic as bounded on the 
west by the coast of Asia. This map is no 



TOSCANELLI CORRESPONDENCE 



103 



longer extant, and almost all reproductions of 
it are merely reproductions of the Atlantic 
Ocean side of Behaim's globe, 1492, reduced to 
what is supposed to be the projection devised 
by Toscanelli."^ 

This letter, it is supposed, was brought to 
the notice of Columbus some time after 1474 
and suggested to him the grand project, which 
afterward became a part of him. He then wrote 
to Toscanelli of his desire to go to the East, 
and, in reply, received a copy of the letter to 
Canon Martins and a chart similar to the one 
which accompanied his first letter. Later Tos- 
canelli wrote again to Columbus, but without 
giving any further information as to the course. 
Within recent years the genuineness of this cor- 
respondence has been challenged. Some main- 
tain that the letters are the forgery of a later 
time, and were "designed to give to Columbus's 
v^oyage the character of a reasoned scientific ex- 
periment and the dignity of the patronage of a 
renowned scholar." Admitting that the Tos- 
canelli letter is genuine, it gave Columbus no 
information concerning the East or the route 
thither that is not more fully given "in the 
passages in Pierre d'Ailly and Marco Polo that 
he annotated in the margin or copied." To 



^8pain in America, pp. 12-13. 



I04 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Toscanelli may be given the credit of suggesting 
the westward voyage, and that is all, even if the 
letters ascribed to him were actually his composi- 
tions. In the marked passages in his own books 
Columbus had accumulated a larger and a far 
more convincing body of facts than is to be found 
in the Toscanelli letters. The great Florentine, 
it is true, had won fame in other fields, but he 
told neither Canon Martins nor Columbus any- 
thing that was not easily accessible. If a forgery 
were committed, and that there was a fabrication 
is far from being satisfactorily proved, it must 
have been devised by some admirer of Columbus. 
His work proclaims the alleged fabricator .un 
disputed master among blunderers. When he 
was inventing the Toscanelli letters, why did 
he not claim for Columbus the sole merit of sug- 
gesting the idea of a westward voyage to the 
realms of the Grand Khan? If one's admira- 
tion for a kinsman or a favorite lead one to 
lie for the enlargement of his fame, why should 
one lie in moderation? There would have been 
nothing amazing in ascribing to Columbus him- 
self the sole credit of orignating the idea. In- 
deed, after his great exploit it would not have 
been questioned, and it is at a time subsequent 
to the discovery that the alleged forgery is fixed. 
Who was the fabricator ? Why was the so-called 



A PURPOSELESS EORGERY 105 



forgery never put lo any sort of use? If a 
fabrication, it was a strange and a purposeless 
one. 

A Portuguese Estimate of Columbus. 

The archives of Portugal furnish no informa- 
tion concerning either Columbus or Toscanelli. 
For our knowledge of the attempt of Columbus 
to obtain the support of King John we are in- 
debted not to the public records but to the narra- 
tive of the Portuguese historian, Barros, who 
wrote about two generations later. Accoriling 
to this authority "Christovao Colom, a Genoese 
by birth, an experienced and eloquent man, a 
good Latin scholar, but very boastful, had con- 
vinced himself by his studies and by his read- 
ing of Marco Polo that it would be practicable 
to reach the island of Cipango and other un- 
known lands by sailing west." Though the 
King did not believe him, yet, on account of 
his persistence, he referred the stranger to the 
bishop of Ceuta, and two physicians, expert 
cosmographers. We are further told that they 
regarded the words of Columbus as empty talk, 
because it all rested on fancy and description 
of Marco Polo's Cipango. This is not the place 
to discuss the expedition fitted out by King John 
to test the correctness of the opinions of Colum- 
bus. The royal captain discovered nothing. 



io6 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Leaves Portugal. 

The biographers of Columbus assert that in 
the year 1484 he left Portugal in secrecy and 
haste. It is known that as early as 1478 he was 
living in Lisbon and was then engaged in com- 
merce, and it has been surmised that debts con- 
tracted at that time explain his sudden departure 
from the country. Fancy can assign other 
reasons for his haste. From our present know- 
ledge we can speak with little certainty con- 
cerning this event. Some day we may know 
more about it. After 1484 official chroniclers 
give us an occasional notice of his residence in 
Spain. 

In Spain he persistently advocated his project. 
When at last he grew weary of waiting, he sent 
his brother Bartholomew to England in order to 
interest King Henry VII, its enterprising ruler. 
Thus far there has been found in the British 
archives no record of that visit. We have few 
particulars of this journey. When Bartholomew 
Columbus was returning to Spain, he was in- 
formed in Paris that his brother had discovered 
some great lands that were called the Indies. 
Precisely what Columbus did during these seven 
years (1485-1491) we do not know. In various 



DUKE OF MEDINA CELI 107 

ways biographers and historians have filled up 
the interval. It is almost certain that Columbus 
reexamined his conclusions as well as the reasons 
on which they were based, and that he extended 
somewhat the wide geographical reading which 
he had done in Portugal. Of course, he labored 
to enlist in support of his enterprise as many 
persons of influence as would grant him a hear- 
ing. In a letter recounting his third voyage for 
Ferdinand and Isabella he wrote: "I gave the 
subject six or seven years of great anxiety. At 
the same time I thought it desirable to bring 
to bear on the subject the sayings and opinions 
of those who have written on the geography of 
the world. "^ 

A Guest of the Duke of Medina Celi. 

Thacher, an eminent student of this era, be- 
lieves that Columbus left Portugal not in 1484 
but in 1485, and that on going into Spain he 
carried his little son Diego to the house of his 
sister-in-law, the wife of one Miguel Muliar, of 
Huelva. An interesting letter written by Luis 
de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Celi, to the Grand 
Cardinal of Spain accounts in a general way for 
the whereabouts of Columbus from about 1485 

^Major, Select Letters of Columbus^ p. 109. 



lo8 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

to 1487. The Duke takes credit to himself for 
having detained Columbus in his house during 
a period of two years, when the Admiral was 
considering a journey to France in order to se- 
cure aid in his project. This nobleman also 
states that he directed Columbus to the service 
of her Highness, who gave him over to Alonso 
de Quintanilla. This statement of the Duke is 
corroborated by the historian Oviedo, who says 
that Columbus "was better received by this 
gentleman [Quintanilla] and found him more 
interested than any man in Spain. "^ The Duke's 
statement that Isabella turned over Columbus 
to the care of Alonso de Quintanilla and the 
opinion expressed by Oviedo are supported by 
the scanty records of the period. On May 5, 
1487 Christopher Columbus, a foreigner, re- 
ceived 3,000 maravedis on account of some ser- 
vices and by the warrant of Alonso de Quin- 
tanilla, First Treasurer of the Catholic Sov- 
ereigns. *'En dicho dia (5 de Mayo de 1487) 
di a Cristobal Colomo, extrangero, tres mil 
maravedis, que esta acqui faciendo algunas cosas 
com.plideras al servicio de sus Altezas, por 
cedula de Alonso de Quintanilla, con manda- 

^Historia General, lib. ii. cap. v. 



SERVING THE SOVEREIGNS 109 



miento del Obispo (de Palencia)."^ From this 
testimony it would seem that the two years pre- 
ceding iMay, 1487 was the period during which 
Columbus was the guest of the Duke of Medina 
Celi. 

Another friend of Columbus was Juan Ca- 
brero. Las Casas tells of his goodness to 
Columbus. In a memoir Martin Cabrero says 
of his uncle Juan "That he was the principal 
cause of the undertaking of the affair of the 
Indies and of their acquisition, and if it were 
not for him, the Indies would not have been 
discovered, at least for the benefit of Castile."^ 
It would be necessary to take this statement 
with considerable allowance were it not that we 
have independent testimony as to its correct- 
ness. Columbus had still another powerful 
friend. In a letter of December 21, 1504, the 
Admiral wrote his son Diego : "We must strive 
to learn whether the Queen, whom God has in 
His keeping, said anything about me in her will 
and we must hurry the Lord Bishop of Palencia, 
who caused the possession of the Indies by their 
Highnesses and my remaining in Castile, for I 
was already on my way to leave it. And the 

^Xavarretf", Coleccion De Los Yiajes i' Desciibriniientus, 
II. p. 8-9 

^Navarrete, III, 315. 



no COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Lord Chamberlain of his Highness must also 
be hurried." 

Influential Friends of Columbus. 

Las Casas had heard it boasted that Fra. Diego 
de Deza and Cabrero were the two persons that 
persuaded Ferdinand and Isabella to undertake 
the expedition of discovery. Diego de Deza had 
been Professor of Theology in the University of 
Salamanca, tutor to Prince Juan, confessor to 
the Queen, Bishop successively of Salamanca, 
Jaen, and Palencia. He was afterward made 
Archbishop of Seville. In the letter describing 
his third voyage the Admiral alludes to the 
ridicule that had been placed upon his project, 
excepting two ''brothers" always firm. One of 
these constant friends was Antonio de Marchena, 
of whom we know little. He has been wrongly 
identified with the good priest, Juan Perez of 
La Rabida, another tried friend of Columbus. 
It is clear that the future discoverer was not 
so friendless as rhetoricians have described him 
nor so destitute of character as some modern 
historians would have us believe. Something 
there was about him that won him the support 
of many of the most eminent men of Spain. A 
mere adventurer would hardly have fared so 
well. Moreover, Columbus brought with him a 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS m 

project that he had matured, and the grandest 
that the world had seen. When it was too late, 
the King of Portugal invited Columbus (March 
20, 1488) to return to that kingdom. 

With many readers the sacred legends and 
the hallowed pictures of school books are 
treasured through life. If they are not cherished 
during all their days, these early impressions 
yield but reluctantly to the assaults of science. 
When, for example, the expert in colonial history 
tells us that Pocahontas did not save the life 
of Captain John Smith, in fancy we still see 
the swarthy maiden of the forest and the poised 
club of the warrior. Generations of readers have 
seen another picture, which is founded on even 
fewer historical facts. It is one that represents 
Columbus standing before an official gathering 
of learned men, for the most part priests. He 
is expounding his project to hostile ears, him- 
self the object of scorn and jest. The scene is 
always laid' in Salamanca. "The imagination of 
some historians," says Thacher, ''has peopled 
this chamber with University Professors and 
theological teachers who disputed every argu- 
ment of Columbus with narrow and impossible 
references to the fathers of the Church and the 
writers on cosmography: and then when the 
decision was adverse to the project the great 
University of Salamanca is held up to ridicule 



1 12 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

as the seat of bigotry and ignorance."^ It is 
true that the Spanish Sovereigns referred the 
project of Columbus to certain learned men, and 
that many of these men were ecclesiastics. Las 
Casas says that Ferdinand and Isabella asked 
the opinion of the Grand Cardinal, Pero Gon- 
zales de Mendoza, Diego de Deza, Alonso de 
Cardenas, the Prior of Prado, and Juan Cabrero. 
According to his own statement, Dr. Rodrigo 
Maldonado also was a member of this Council, 
which is said to have been held at Salamanca 
in the Dominican convent of St. Stephen. From 
the facts now in our possession it is not at all 
certain that any representative of the Faculty 
of the University of Salamanca, except the 
Dominican, Diego de Deza, was a member of 
this famous Junta. That priest, who was Profes- 
sor of Theolog}' in the University, is believed 
by all eminent students of that era to have been 
one of the most constant as well as the most 
influential among the friends of 'Columbus. 
From several sources we know that this consul- 
tation developed strong opposition to the en- 
terprise proposed by Columbus, but it is not 
easy to perceive how that opposition reflects in 
any way upon the learning of the University. 
The Council of Salamanca is believed to have 

^Columbus, I, 419. 



THE SECOND COUNCIL 



113 



met in i486 or 1487. In the years that followed, 
Columbus was oppressed by cares and doubts. 
Even hope no longer cheered his troubled way. 
The dreary years wore on. It was about Decem- 
ber of 149 1 that the second Junta assembled. 
One of its members, Alessandro Geraldini, gives 
the place of meeting as Iliberis (Granada). 
Perhaps it was in the fortified camp of Santa 
Fe, which was occupied by the army of King 
Ferdinand in April, 1491. For Columbus and 
his project this Council did little more than the 
first. Nevertheless the Most Rev. Cardinal of 
Spain, Gonzales de Mendoza, had by this time 
become much interested in the plans of Colum- 
bus, to whom he had given several audiences. 
This convert appears to have been made through 
the kindness of Alonso de Quintanilla. The 
interest of the Cardinal it was that persuaded 
the King and Queen to listen to the proposals 
of Columbus, but as the Council did not recom- 
mend the prosecution of his enterprise, the Sov- 
ereigns gave their petitioner no immediate hope. 

At La Rabida. 

Because of this second rejection of his pro- 
posals Columbus took his departure from the 
Court, and, with his little son Diego, made his 



114 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

way on foot to the monastery of La Rabida. 
The December landscape must have been in 
harmony with his f eehngs as he travelled toward 
the ocean, which was to bear him, as he be- 
lieved, to strange lands. His purpose was to 
leave Diego with his wife's sister at Huelva, and 
afterward to embark for France or some other 
country likely to be more interested in his 
project. Night found the tired travellers before 
a convent among the Andalusian hills. A knock 
at its hospitable doors brought the porter, of 
whom Columbus asked food, and a bed for him- 
self and his little boy. One of the most familiar 
incidents in history tells how the Prior of the 
monastery, Friar Juan Perez, observing that the 
stranger was a foreigner, came forward and in- 
quired who he was and whence he came. Not- 
withstanding his weariness and his hopelessness, 
Columbus again explained his cherished project. 
This time his eloquence aroused the interest of 
an intelligent and sympathetic mind. In the 
neighboring town of Palos dwelt a young man 
named Garcia Hernandez, who was reputed to 
have some knowledge of astronomy. Him the 
Prior summoned to the monastery. Together 
they discussed the project of Columbus. So 
convinced of the feasibility of it were these new 
friends of the stranger that Father Perez, who 
was the confessor of the Oueen, offered to write 



A NEW FRIEND 115 

a letter to her Highness urging a reconsidera- 
tion of the decision of the Court, and support of 
the proposals of Columbus. The letter was 
sent, and in two weeks came a friendly reply 
commanding the priest to appear at Court. At 
midnight this intrepid man mounted his mule 
and set forth upon the long and dangerous 
journey to Santa Fe. In the meantime Columbus 
remained at the monastery buoyed up by new 
hopes and, perhaps, daring to dream of ultimate 
success. At the conference of the Queen and 
the priest it was agreed that three vessels should 
be equipped for the expedition. To a citizen of 
Granada, Isabella gave 20,000 maravedis and 
a letter to be delivered to Columbus. This com- 
manded him to purchase a mule; also suitable 
raiment and present himself before her Majesty. 
Leaving his son Diego with Garcia Hernandez 
and Father Sanchez, Columbus set out for 
Santa Fe. Though the landscape must have 
been unchanged, it is certain that the successful 
suppliant saw in it, as he rode back to Santa Fe, 
beauties that he had not observed before. 

Assistance Promised Before the Surrender. 

\\'ith more detail Dr. Garcia Hernandez on an 
interesting occasion told the story. In 1829 
it was published in full by Navarrete. The 



1 16 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Spanish Sovereigns with their armies formally 
entered and took possession of the city of 
Granada on Friday, January 6, 1492. In the 
introduction to his Journal, Columbus informs 
us that he was an interested spectator of that 
great event. In the opinion of Christendom this 
triumph nearly offset the Mohammedan conquest 
of Constantinople in 1453. If Columbus in 
obedience to the commands of Queen Isabella 
had completed his preparations and made the 
journey to Santa Fe, it is certain that her 
Majesty had concluded to equip the expedition 
even before the conquest of Granada. The 
triumph of Columbus was really greater than 
is generally believed. His perseverance and his 
intelligence had won success notwithstanding the 
distractions and the uncertainties of existing war. 
On the 17th and on the 30th of April, 1492 
were executed the two documents known as the 
Capitulation. In another connection a synopsis 
of one of the papers will be given. For the 
present it is sufficient to state that by this in- 
strument it was provided that "Columbus should 
be Admiral of such islands and mainlands as he 
or his heirs should discover or acquire with such 
prerogatives as belonged to the office of High 
Admiral of Castile." He was also to be "Vice- 
roy and Governor-General in all those islands 
or mainlands he might discover or acquire, with 



AN ADMIRAL II7 



power to name three persons for each office 
under him, from which three persons the Sov- 
ereigns must select one." The homeless and 
friendless stranger who had knocked at the 
portals of La Rabida on that dreary night in 
December, 1491 had gone far in a season. He 
was now a high official in one of the most 
powerful monarchies of Europe. If Columbus 
was, indeed, the sort of man described by some 
modern historians, it is hard to understand his 
advancement. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE EQUIPMENT AND THE DIS- 
COVERY. 

Legends Concerning the Equipment. 

After years of endeavor and anxiety Colum- 
bus and those whom he had won over to the 
support of his grand enterprise finally succeeded 
in gaining the assistance of Queen Isabella. The 
next step was to obtain the ships and the men. 
Around the subject of the equipment there have 
grown up legends more or less picturesque. One 
thing to be noted is that in them the ethnical, the 
personal and the religious estimates have played 
a considerable part. This is well ihustrated in 
the case of B. L. de Argensola, who asserted that 
he found in the archives of the Treasury of 
Aragon documents which proved that it was that 
kingdom which furnished the money for the 
equipment. By the eyes of trained investigators 
outside of that kingdom these records have never 
been seen. They appear to have been visible 
to only Aragonese historians. There is no evi- 
dence that Aragon contributed so much as a 
118 



LEGENDARY ACCOUNTS 



119 



single maravedi toward the enterprise. Not only 
ethnical pride but family importance has con- 
tributed to fashion stories that have entertained 
generations of readers. 

Columbus Advanced One Eighth. 

Under the terms of the Capitulation, Columbus 
was entitled to contribute one eighth part of the 
expense of the expedition and to receive one 
eighth of the profit. That he did contribute that 
portion is established by the Majorat, executed 
February 22, 1498. In this document he says : 

'' . . . e yo hobiese el diezmo de todo lo 
que en el dicho Almirantazgo se fallase e hobiese 
o rentase, y asimismo la octava parte de las 
tierras, y todas las otras cosas.^ 

"... And that I should have the tenth of 
everything that might be discovered and possessed 
and produced in the said Almirantazgo, and also 
the eighth part of the lands and of all other 
things. ..." 

On this point, and for a reason that will pres- 
ently appear, Las Casas is a very interesting 
witness. In examining this subject that historian 
says : 

"And as Christopher Columbus wished to con- 

iNavarrete, Coleccion, etc., II, p. 252. The entire instru- 
ment is well worth reading. 



120 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

tribute the eighth part of the expense of this 
voyage in order to have his eighth of the profit 
(since he could not complete his preparations 
with the million maravedis loan, which Luis de 
Santangel secured for the Sovereigns), and inas- 
much as Christopher Columbus came from the 
Court in very needy circumstances and consid- 
ered the half million maravedis enough to con- 
tribute for the said eighth part (which was all 
that was necessary for the preparation of the 
fleet as appeared by the accounts of the expenses 
made before a notary public in the said town and 
port of Palos) it is a fact quite probable and ap- 
parently true according to what I have under- 
stood, that the said Martin Alonso of himself or 
for himself and brothers together, did lend Chris- 
topher Columbus the half million." 

From this it is clear that Santangel secured a 
loan of 1,000,000 maravedis, but Las Casas does 
not state from what source the money was ob- 
tained. This loan will be noticed in a subsequent 
paragraph. In the meantime the reader should 
remember the important fact that the Sovereigns, 
through Santangel, borrowed a sum of money for 
the enterprise. This historian speaks with a little 
less confidence as to the source from which Co- 
lumbus obtained the 500,000 maravedis. He re- 
garded it as not only quite probable but, accord- 
ing to his information, as certain that it was the 



LEGENDARY ACCOUNTS 121 

Pinzon family that loaned Columbus the half a 
million maravedis which he subscribed. In dis- 
cussing the Fiscal inquiry of 151 1 Las Casas says 
that the claim of the Pinzons "is shown to be 
false." Historians in general do not regard the 
Admiral as the possessor at that time of so much 
money, and Las Casas himself states that Co- 
lumbus came from the Court '*in very needy 
circumstances." 

Claim of Pinzons. 

From whatever source Las Casas may have 
derived his information, it is certain that the 
Pinzon family afterward claimed that they sup- 
plied Columbus with the money which he con- 
tributed toward the equipment. There are, how- 
ever, some facts that militate against their claim. 
Harrisse has pointed out that the strongest evi- 
dence against their contribution is to be found in 
the Act of Charles V, who granted that family 
the right to bear arms. In it are recorded the 
deeds of the family, and mention is made of the 
fact that Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Vincente 
Yanez Pinzon were captains of the second and 
third vessels respectively in the discovery fleet. 
No mention is made of so important a service as 
the loan of half a million maravedis to the enter- 
prise. That was the occasion for an enumeration 



122 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

of all the services and the exploits of the Pinzons. 
This omission is significant. The family, as we 
shall see, did render very great assistance both 
to Columbus and their Sovereigns, but it did not 
take the form of a loan. Moreover, on the voy- 
age the Pinzons did not work in harmony with 
the Admiral, as they assuredly would have done 
had they been partners in the enterprise. There 
is nothing in their conduct that would suggest the , 
idea that their interest in the success of the ex- 
pedition was a pecuniary one. 

Source of Columbus' Share. 

As to the amount contributed by the Admiral, 
it seems almost certain that it was not so much as 
500,000 maravedis. If that share was one eighth, 
the entire cost of the equipment would have been 
4,000,000 maravedis. As a matter of fact, it was 
only a fraction of that amount. Many authorities 
on the history of that epoch incline to the opinion 
that the person who came to the assistance of the 
Admiral was his proved friend, the Duke of 
Medina Celi. They believe that it was this noble- 
man who furnished a part if not the whole of 
the eighth advanced by Columbus. Some day we 
may learn from whom he obtained the money, 
but with our present information it is idle to 
speculate on the subject. During his sojourn in 



THE HOLY BROTHERHOOD 



123 



Spain, the Admiral had won the confidence of 
many men of wealth and distinction, any one of 
whom could have furnished him the money. 

The fund necessary for the equipment may be 
divided into two parts, viz., the one eighth con- 
tributed by Columbus himself and the seven 
eighths supplied by the Crown of Castile. As 
stated above, it is not known from what source 
Columbus received the one eighth that, it is uni- 
versally admitted, was advanced in his behalf. 
With the royal seven eighths it is very different. 
This portion came from the treasury of the Santa 
Hermandad (Holy Brotherhood).^ 

Holy Brotherhood Advances Fund. 

In the second edition (1859) of Navarrete, 
Vol. II, p. 9, is found a brief paragraph that has 
proved a stumbfmg-block to many a beginner in 
this field of historical 'research. Perhaps it has 
puzzled more mature students. It is as follows: 

^The Hermandad was a society empowered to deal with 
ci'imes committed on the highways or, if committed in towns, 
and the suspected persons were found on the highways, to 
consider their cases. It had once been powerful enough to 
embarrass the Crown, but had fallen out of favor. Because 
of tlae disorder existing in Castile, Isabella revived the 
organization upon her accession in 1476. Among other 
powers it possessed the autliority to raise money on the 
inhabitants, and at times bad great sums of money in its 
treasury. 



124 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

"En otro libro de cuentas de Luis de Santangel 
y Francisco Pinelo, Tesorero de la Hermandad 
desde el ano 1491 hasta el de 1493, en el finiquito 
de ellas, se lee la partida siguiente : 

'Vos fueron recibidos e pagados en cuenta un 
cuento e ciento e cuarenta mil maravedis que 
distes por nuestro mandado al Obispo de Avila, 
que agora es Arzobispo de Granada, para el 
despacho del Almirante D. Cristobal Colon.' " 

"In another book of accounts of Luis de 
Santangel and Francisco Pinelo, Treasurer of 
the Brotherhood from the year 1491 to 1493, i" 
the discharge of them, is read the following 
entry : 

'You had received and paid on account one 
million and one hundred and forty thousand 
maravedis, which you gave by our order to the 
Bishop of Avila, who is now Archbishop of 
Granada, for the equipment of the Admiral, Don 
Christopher Columbus.'" 

The entry here reproduced is correctly quoted 
by Navarrete, but in the paragraph introducing 
it there is ah evident error. The expression 
''Tesorero de la Hermandad" (Treasurer of 
Brotherhood) is a grammatical absurdity. Of 
course, it is incorrect to speak of Santangel and 
Pinelo as Treasurer.. The passage should read, 
as it does in the first edition of Navarrete, 
"Tesoreros de la Hermandad" {Treasurers of 



SPANISH RECORDS 



125 



the Brotherhood). Las Casas, as we have seen, 
says that Santangel borrowed 1,000,000 mara- 
vedis for the Sovereigns, but does not indicate 
the source. In the item quoted the source is 
given. But this is not the only record of the 
transaction. Following the item reproduced from 
the account books of Santangel and Pinelo, 
Treasurers of the Brotherhood, Navarrete thus 
introduces another entry : 

''En otro libro de cuentas de Garcia Martinez 
y Pedro de Montemayor de las composiciones de 
Bulas del Obispado de Palencia del ano de 1484 
en adelante, hay la partida siguiente" : 

"In another book of accounts of Garcia Mar- 
tinez and Peter of Montemayor constituting 
Bulls of the Bishopric of Palencia from the year 
1484 and onward, there is the following entry." 
The item reads : 

"Dio y pago mas el dicho Alonso de las Cabezas 
(Tesorero de la Cruzada, en el Obispado de 
Badajoz) por otro libramiento del dicho Arzo- 
bispo de Granada, fecho 5 de Mayo de 92 anos, 
a Luis de Santangel, Escribano de racion del 
Rey nuestro Senor, e por el a Alonso de Angulo, 
por virtud de un poder que del dicho Escribano 
de Racion mostro, en el cual estaba inserto dicho 
libramiento, doscientos mil maravedis, en cuciita 
de cuatrocientos mil que en el, en Vasco de 



126 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Quiroga, le libro el dicho Arzobispo por el dicho 
libramiento de dos cuentos seiscientos cuarenta 
mil maravedis que hobo de haber en esta manera : 
un cuento y quinientos mil maravedis para pagar 
a D. Isag Abrahan por otro tanto que presto 
a sus Altezas para los gastos de la guerra, e el un 
cuento ciento cuarenta mil maravedis restantes 
para pagar al dicho Escribano de Racion en 
cuenta de otro tanto que presto para la paga de 
las carabelas que sus Altezas mandaron ir de 
armada a las Indias, e para pagar a Cristobal 
Colon que va en la dicha armada." 

^'Furthermore, the said Alonso de las Cabezas 
(treasurer of the Crusades in the Bishopric of 
Badajoz) gave and paid by another warrant of 
the said Archbishop of Granada, made on the 
5th of May in the year 1492 to Luis de Sant- 
angel, Escribano de Racion of the King, our 
Lord, and through him to Alonso de Angulo, by 
virtue of an authorisation which he exhibited 
from the said Escribano de Racion, in which 
was inserted the said warrant, 200,000 maravedis 
on account of 400,000 paid to Vasco de Quiroga, 
which the said Archbishop paid by the said war- 
rant of 2,640,000 maravedis which he was to 
receive in this manner: 1,500,000 maravedis to 
pay to :D. Isag Abrahan for a like sum which 
he loaned to their . Highnesses to carry on the 



SPANISH RECORDS 



127 



war, and the 1,140,000 maravedis remaining to 
pay the said Escribano de Racioh on account of 
a like sum which he loaned to pay for the cara- 
vels which their Highnesses ordered to go as a 
fleet to the Indies, and to pay to Christopher 
Columbus, who goes [went] on the said fleet." 

Thacher gives the following excerpt from the 
Royal Cedula of the Sovereigns to Fernando 
de Villadiego. It is dated from Segovia, August 
19, 1494: 

"El rey e la Reina. Fernando de V^illadiego, 
tesorero e comisario en cierte parte de los 
obispados de Oviedo e Astorga: el muy reve- 
rendo in Cristo padre arzobispo de Granada 
por nuestro mandado hobo librado en Rui Garcia 
Suarez e Luis de Santangel, nuestro escribano 
de racion e de nuestro consejo, doscientos e 
noventa mil maravedis en cuenta de dos cuentos 
e seiscientos e cuarenta mil maravedis que hobo 
de haber, el un cuento e cuarenta mil maravedis 
que nos presto para despachar a Cristobal Colon, 
e el un cuento e quinientos mil maravedis que 
pago por nuestro mandado a D. Isaque Abranel, 
segun mas largamente en el dicho libramiento 
se contiene.^ ..." 

"The King and the Queen. Fernando de 
Villadiego, Treasurer and Commissary in a cer- 

^Columhus, I, 458. 



128 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

tain part of the Bishoprics of Oviedo and As- 
torga : Whereas the very reverend in Christ, 
father archbishop of Granada, by our command 
has paid to Rtii Garcia Suarez and Luis de 
Santangel, our escribano de racion and a member 
of our Council, 290,000 maravedis on account 
of 2,640,000 maravedis which were due him, 
the 1,040,000 maravedis which he loaned us to 
equip Christopher Columbus, and the 1,500,000 
maravedis which he paid by our order to D. 
Isaque Abranel, as is contained more at length 
in the said warrant. . . ." 

The 1,040,000 maravedis mentioned in con- 
nection with the equipment of Columbus is 
clearly an error made in copying that item, be- 
cause the books of the Treasurers, Santangel 
and Pinelo, show that the amount was ''one 
million and one hundred and forty thousand 
maravedis." It is evident that this entry in- 
cludes two transactions, namely certain expenses 
of the war and the cost of the fleet. If both 
amounted to 2,640,000 maravedis, and the item 
on account of the war was 1,500,000 the sum 
advanced for the expedition was 1,140,000 
maravedis. 

The account books of the Hermandad, whose 
Treasurers w^ere Luis de Santangel, a converted 
Jew, and Francisco Pinelo, believed to have been 



A MINISTERIAL ACT 



129 



a Genoese and a Christian, are still preserved 
in the archives of Simancas. As we have seen, 
these records show that during the years 1492 
and 1493 there had been returned to them 
1,140,000 maravedis for moneys furnished Her- 
nando de Talavera, Archbishop of Granada, 
formerly Bishop of Avila, for equipping the 
tieet of Columbus. 

Oftentimes the assertion is made that "it was 
not jewels but Jews" that furnished the funds 
for the equipment of Columbus. Ordinarily one 
does not pause to analyze a witticism, and this 
the writer would pass without observation were 
it not that brief as the phrase is, it suggests 
two errors. In the first place, Isabella did not 
pledge her jewels to provide the expedition for 
Columbus, though in Spain there is a legend that 
as early as 1489 they were pledged to certain 
money-lenders for the prosecution of the war 
against the Moors. It is clear from the records 
just quoted that Luis de Santangel, in Jiis ca- 
pacity of treasurer of the Santa Hennandad, 
loaned for the equipment of Columbus a sum that 
was repaid, during the years 1492 and 1493, 
with interest. The amount of this repayment 
was 1,140,000 maravedis. This interpretation of 
the records leaves out of account Francisco 



130 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



Pinelo, the fellow townsman of Columbus, and 
subsequently in royal warrants styled "our Mag- 
istrate and Faithful Executor of the City of 
Seville." 

Apparently Unknown to Fiske. 

Even if it be assumed that Pinelo had no 
part in obtaining the loan from the Hermandad, 
the act of Santangel was merely ministerial. He 
was acting for a society, which was his superior. 
On the subject of the equipment the historian 
Fiske says: "A considerable amount was as- 
sessed upon the town of Palos in punishment of 
certain misdeeds or delinquencies on the part of 
its people or some of them. Castile assumed 
the rest of the burden, though Santangel may 
have advanced a million maravedis out of the 
treasury of Aragon, or out of the funds of the 
Hermandad, or perhaps more likely on his own 
account. In any case it was a loan to the treasury 
of Castile simply."^ It has been stated that the 
kingdom of Aragon contributed nothing to the 
cost of the expedition. Fiske has two guesses 
besides, but inclines to the opinion that the money 
was advanced by the Escribano de Racion on 
his own account. It is evident that this historian 

'^The Discovery of America, I, p. 418. 



A STATESMAN'S OPINION 131 



did not know of the existence of the first entry 
given above. From the records quoted it ap- 
pears to be estabhshed beyond a doubt that San- 
tangel simply loaned money of which he was 
one of the custodians. 

Mr. Kahn's Opinion. 

In the course of an instructive address in 
Congress, delivered December 13, 191 1, Hon, 
Julius Kahn, a Representative from California, 
referred to an historical painting in a gallery 
of the National Capitol. In it the artist repre- 
sents the recall of Columbus after the failure of 
the Sovereigns to agree to the terms upon which 
he insisted. Historians tell us that Lius de 
Santangel pleaded with Isabella for a favorable 
consideration of the proposals of Columbus. 
They also mention a circumstance omitted by 
Representative Kahn, namely, that Ouintanilla 
and Beatriz de Bobadilla (Marchioness of Moya) 
seconded the efforts of Santangel. Their joint 
influence prevailed. A courier was promptly 
dispatched and overtook Columbus on the bridge 
that spanned the Pinos, about six miles from 
Granada. Continuing the discussion of his theme 
Mr. Kahn added: 

"He [Santangel] and his kinsman, Gabriel 
Sanchez, were zealous patrons of the great 



132 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



Genoese explorer, and they were largely instru- 
mental in having him summoned back. There 
is now but little doubt that Santangel supplied 
the funds out of his own pocket for the expedi- 
tion. In his original account books, extending 
from 1491 to 1493, preserved in the Archive 
de Indias in Seville, Santangel is credited with 
an item of 1,140,000 maravedis, which were given 
by him to the Bishop of Avila, who subsequently 
became the Archbishop of Granada, for Colum- 
bus's expedition. In another account book is 
an entry to show that this sum was later on 
repaid to Santangel for *money which he ad- 
vanced to equip the caravels ordered by their 
Majesties for the expedition to the Indies, and 
to pay Christopher Columbus, the Admiral of 
that fleet/ Columbus, in grateful remembrance 
of the man who had furnished the funds for 
the voyage, wrote a letter to Santangel from near 
the Azores or Canaries on February 15, 1493, de- 
tailing the result of this first expedition. And 
this Luis de Santangel was a converted Jew." 

The California statesman interprets historical 
documents in a strange manner. He says: 'Tn 
his [Santangel's] original account books, extend- 
ing from 1491 to 1493, preserved in the Archivo 
de Indias in Seville, Santangel is credited with 
an item of 1,140,000 maravedis, which were given 



A STATESMAN'S OPINION 133 

by him to the Bishop of Avila. . . ." The record 
here referred to is that given above. It is not, 
as Mr. Kahn states, in Santangel's "original ac- 
count book" that this entry is found, but in 
"another book of accounts of Lius de Santangel 
and Francisco Pinelo, Treasurers of the Her- 
mandad." Why is Pinelo overlooked, and why 
is the official character of both Pinelo and San- 
tangel passed without observation? One must 
conclude that Representative Kahn is a beginner 
in the field of historical research or that he 
did not have by him when he was preparing his 
address a reliable collection of the Spanish docu- 
ments bearing on this interesting problem. Mr. 
Khan, however, is not alone in holding the opinion 
which he expressed in Congress. In a recent 
issue of The Candlestick a writer makes the fol- 
lowing assertions: "The discovery of America 
by Columbus was made possible by a Jew, Lewis 
de Santangel, treasurer of Aragon, who in- 
formed Queen Isabella that the necessary money, 
17,000 florins, was in the treasury, when the 
treasury was in fact empty, and then advanced 
the money from his own funds." 

Some Jews Friendly to Columbus. 

It has long been known that some members of 
the Jewish race were friendly to the projects of 



134 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Columbus, but it is only within recent years 
that there has been made any serious attempt 
to represent his grand achievement as a result 
of Jewish philanthropy or Jewish foresight. At 
this moment there are indications that such an 
endeavor is encouraged. The friendship for 
Columbus of Santangel and his kinsman San- 
chez is, indeed, a fine circumstance, and one of 
which Jewish people generally may well be 
proud. The incident, however, is no more than 
a fleeting scene in a drama of many acts. 

The testimony thus far adduced shows that 
there was — 

Advanced the enterprise by 

the Crown of Castile. . 1,140,000 maravedis. 
Advanced the enterprise by 

Columbus 500,000 maravedis. 

Palos Punished. 

In some way the port of Palos had made 
itself liable to punishment, perhaps for a failure 
to comply with the will of the Government, and 
by the Royal Council was sentenced to keep 
at its own expense two vessels in readiness to 
serve the Sovereigns. The cost and maintenance 
of those who went with them were chargeable 
to the Crown. In a royal warrant, dated April 



THREE CARAVELS 135 

30, 1492, the town of Palos is commanded to get 
the tv;o vessels ready for Columbus. In a second 
warrant of the same date there was made a 
provision for suspending the sentences of crim- 
inals who might go on the expedition. It is not 
certainly known that any person of this class took 
advantage of the indulgence offered by their 
Majesties. 

Ships Selected. 

Three vessels were finally selected: the Santa 
Maria, owned and commanded by Juan de la 
Cosa, the Pinta, whose commander was Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon, and the Niiia (baby) of which 
Vincente Yafiez Pinzon was captain. Concern- 
ing the number of those who went on the voyage, 
Las Casas says there ''were in all ninety men," 
"fueron por todos noventa homhres." Oviedo 
says that there w^ere 120 men. Ferdinand Colum- 
bus agrees with Las Casas, who had before him, 
when he wrote, the original Journal of Columbus. 
The Crown paid money for the use of the Safita 
Maria, but not for the use of either the Pinta 
or the Niiia. That, as has been stated, was the 
offering of Palos to appease the royal wrath. 
By an expert it is estimated that the Crown of 
Castile furnished 1,000,000 maravedis for the 
equipment. The additional 140,000 maravedis 



136 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

repaid to the Hermandad represented the interest 
on the loan. The same authority estimates the 
amount contributed by Columbus himself as 
167,542 maravedis. The entire cost of the equip- 
ment, then, may be regarded as 1,167,542 mara- 
vedis, or about $7,203.73 in our money. This 
was the actual outlay. It has been calculated 
that about $80,000 would now be required simi- 
larly to equip and maintain a fleet for the same 
time. In other words, $7,203.73 had in the fif- 
teenth century the purchasing power possessed 
by about $80,000 in the twentieth century. These 
are the conclusions of Thacher.^ 

Services of Pinzon Family. 

It has been said that while the Pinzon family 
did not loan Columbus the money with which he 
paid his share of the expense, its members 
rendered very great assistance. When it was 
known in Palos that the Sovereigns had com- 
manded the authorities of that place to provide 
and equip two vessels for the expedition of 
Columbus, there was the greatest excitement in 
the little port. In fact there was almost a riot. 
As it was the general belief that the fleet must 
inevitably be destroyed, it was impossible to 
bring together sailors to man the ship. It was 

^Columbus, I, 490. 



A COSMOPOLITAN CREW 



137 



in this emergency that the Pinzon brothers, in- 
fluential in the community and regarded as 
oracles on questions of navigation, volunteered 
to take part in the enterprise. Their example 
banished for the moment the fears and super- 
stitions of ordinary seamen, and afterward there 
appears to have been no difficulty in engaging 
sailors. Palos, Huelva, Seville, Moguer and other 
Spanish towns furnished the crews, but there 
were two seamen from places more remote. In 
the list of those left as a garrison in Espanola, 
when the Admiral was returning from the voyage 
of discovery, we find the names of Tallarte 
Lajes, of England, and Guillermo Ires, of Galway, 
Ireland. The Englishman is generally regarded 
as Arthur Laws, and the Irishman as William 
Harris. With their forty-one companions both 
were among the early victims of Indian treach- 
ery. The story of the massacre of the little 
band left behind by the discoverer on his re- 
turn fromi the first voyage is too familiar to re- 
quire repetition. In the endeavor of European 
nations to colonize and civilize the New World 
these were the first in a long line of martyrs. 

Praying for Success. 

Historians tell us that when the last obstacle 
had been surmounted, and everything was in 



138 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

readiness, the Admiral and his brave companions 
went, on the 2d of August, to the httle church 
in Palos, where prayers were solemnly offered for 
the success of the great undertaking. Their 
devotions performed, in fancy we can see these 
fifteenth century Argonauts bidding tearful 
adieus to friends and kinsfolk. On Friday, 
August 3, 1492, at 8 o'clock, says Columbus in 
his Journal, "we started from the bar of Saltes."^ 
Favored by a strong sea-breeze their native shores 
soon sank below the horizon., and by midday 
they were speeding southward through the Sea 
of Darkness. By sunset they had sailed sixty 
miles in that direction. Afterward they changed 
their course to the south-west and to the south, 
which was the way to the Canaries. In sub- 
stance this is the Admiral's brief record of the 
events of that great day. 

This chapter has described the principal facts 
connected with the equipment of the fleet. It 
only remains to discuss the object of the expedi- 
tion, and to notice the chief incidents of that 
epoch-making voyage. School histories, and even 
more pretentious works have contributed to 
crystallize on this subject an idea that is not 
strictly correct. The Asiatic trade, especially the 

^An island in front of Huelva. 



FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE 



139 



commerce with India, was extremely profitable. 
In the beginning of the fifteenth century, and, 
indeed, long before that time, the victories of 
the Turks began greatly to injure this trafiic. 
During the year 1453 those barbarous warriors 
took the city of Constantinople. Before its 
capture cultured citizens of that capital fled in 
great numbers to places in western Europe. We 
are told that they carried with them stores of 
valuable manuscripts and that these fugitive 
scholars and their books gave an impetus to the 
Renaissance. This is a commonplace of literary 
history. A consequence more nearly related to 
our theme was the destruction of the commerce 
of both Genoa and A^enice. These city states 
were for Europe the principal carriers of East- 
ern commodities. By reason of it they became 
wealthy and cultured. The taking of Constanti- 
nople put a period to Italian prosperity by de- 
stroying the overland trade with the East. This 
was one of the influences which sent into west- 
ern Europe a multitude of Italian navigators. 
In the commerce of their own country they had 
acquired a skill which made them superior to the 
sailors of other nations. When it no longer re- 
quired their services, they offered themselves to 
the rising maritime kingdoms of the West, and, 
as is well known, brought to America the first 



140 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

expedition for Spain, for England and for France. 
All Europe became interested in the discovery 
of a safer route to India, and Columbus, we are 
told, purposed to find one. The islands of the 
Orient abounded in gems and precious metals 
and in scarcely less precious spices. The Admiral 
was going to discover these favored places. 

Whatever moderns may know about the pro- 
ject of Columbus, it must be assumed that he 
himself knew something of his purposes and his 
motives. In the introduction to his Journal he 
says : 

Columbus States His Purpose. 

"On the 2d day of the month of January 
(1492) I saw the Royal banners of your High- 
nesses placed by force of arms on the towers 
of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of the 
said City (Granada) ; and I saw the Moorish 
King come out to the gates of the City and kiss 
the Royal hands of your Highnesses,^ and the 
hands of the prince, my Lord: and then in the 
present month, because of the information which 
I had given your Highnesses about the lands 
of India, and about a Prince who is called Great 

^Spanish historians, believing ttiat the age of chivalry had 
not then passed away, assert that tliis act of humiliation 
was not required by Ferdinand and Isabella. 



EXTENSION OF CHRISTIANITY 141 

Khan, zvhich means in our Romance language 
King of Kings,^ — how he and his predecessors 
had many times sent to Rome to beg for men 
learned in our Holy Faith that they might be 
instructed therein, and that the Holy Father had 
never furnished them, and so, many peoples be- 
lieving in idolatries and receiving among them- 
selves sects of perdition, were lost : — your High- 
nesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, lov- 
ing the Holy Christian faith and the spreading 
of it, and enemies of the sect of Mohamet and 
of all idolatries and heresies, decided to send 
me, Christopher Columbus, to the said regions 
of India, to see the said Princes and the peoples 
and lands, and learn of their disposition, and 
of everything, and the measures which could 
be taken for their conversion to our Holy 
Faith : and you ordered that I should not go to 
the east by land, by which it is customary to 
go, but by way of the west, whence until to-day 
we do not know certainly that any one has 
gone. . . ." 

For the purpose of going to the regions of 

^The italicized passage is the very language of the Tos- 
canelli letter, and the circumstance proves that when the 
Admiral was writing the introduction to the Journal he 
had in mind the correspondence with that celebrated as- 
tronomer. If this be a true interpretation, the corres- 
pondence with the Florentine scientist could not have been 
a subsequent forgery. 



142 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

India, continues the Journal, his sovereigns had 
granted him favors and ennobled him, so that 
henceforth he might entitle himself "Don and 
should be High Admiral of the Ocean-Sea and 
Viceroy and perpetual Governor of all the islands 
and continental lands'' which he might discover 
and acquire. 

To say nothing of other sources of informa- 
tion Columbus could have learned from Marco 
Polo that the uncle and the father of that trav- 
eller had been sent to the Pope as envoys from 
Kublai Khan. As we have seen, that great 
ruler had asked for one hundred missionaries. 
Columbus says that the ''Holy Father had never 
furnished them." It seems clear, therefore, that 
the Admiral did not regard the presence in 
Cathay of Friar John of Monte Corvino and 
his devoted missionaries as in any sense a com- 
pliance with the request of Kublai Khan. The 
sending of seven bishops by Pope Clement V, 
however, is sufficient proof that the missions 
of Cathay were regarded as of very great im- 
portance. We have noticed the beginnings and 
the development of this wonderful missionary 
activity and have described the event by which 
it was abruptly terminated. 

In his introduction the Admiral says further: 
I "took my way to the Canary Islands of your 



EXTENSION OF CHRISTIANITY 



143 



Highnesses, which are in the said Ocean-Sea, 
in order to set out on my voyage from there 
and sail until I arrived at the Indies, and make 
known the messages of your Highnesses to those 
Princes, and fulfill the commands which had 
thus been given me : and for this purpose, I 
decided to write everything I might do and see 
and which might take place on this voyage, very 
punctually from day to day, as will be seen 
henceforth. Also, Lords and Princes, besides 
describing each night what takes place during 
the day, and during the day, the sailings of the 
night, I proposed to make a new chart for naviga- 
tion on which I will locate all the sea and the 
lands of the Ocean-Sea, in their proper places, 
under their winds; and further, compose a book 
and show everything by means of drawing, by 
the latitude from the equator and by longitude 
from the west, and above all, it is fitting that I 
forget sleep, and study the navigation diligently, 
in order to thus fulfill these duties, w^hich will 
be a great labor. " 

Columbus an Explorer and Missionary. 

Columbus is going to deliver to the Princes 
of the East a message from his Sovereigns ; 
en route he expects to discover lands, and "in 



144 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



a new chart of navigation" to indicate their loca- 
tion. There is nothing in this introduction to 
the Jounial that justifies the popular opinion 
that Columbus was merely interested in a little 
traffic with the Indies and in the discovery of 
a safer route thither. His project looked ulti- 
mately to nothing less than the conversion to 
Christianity of the millions of pagans dwelling 
in the countries of the East and to the discovery 
of islands and mainlands lying in the Ocean- 
Sea. In other words, he was a missionary and 
explorer. However, he was by no means in- 
different to the profits of trade, but these profits, 
as we shall see, were to be applied to no sordid 
purpose. When clouds were gathering fast 
around him, he thought of wealth, but it was 
only for the purpose of equipping a new crusade. 
It must be remembered that the highwater mark 
of Mohammedan power had not yet been reached. 
Their disasters at Vienna and Lepanto were 
yet in the future. What may be appropriately 
termed the clove-and-nutmeg theory of the mis- 
sion of Columbus finds no support in the records 
of his day. Though he did not disdain the legiti- 
mate gains of commerce, wealth thus acquired 
appeared valuable to him only so far as it could 
promote one of his more lofty projects. He 



THE VOYAGE 



145 



sought eagerly for gold and for spices, but in 
his imagination they were bound up with Jeru- 
salem delivered. 

Injury to "Pinta." 

On Saturday, August 4th, says the Journal, 
"We went to the southwest, quarter south." 
For the day following, August 5th, the Admiral 
makes this entry : "We went on our way, more 
than forty leagues between day and night." A 
more important record is made on Monday, the 
6th of August. The helm of the Pint a broke 
or became disjointed ; this was suspected to have 
been the work of Rascon and Quintero, the 
owners of the caravel, wdio were displeased with 
the voyage. The same trouble occurred during 
the day succeeding, but after making repairs 
they sailed in search of Lanzarote, one of the 
Canaries. In a discussion of the course with his 
pilots the Admiral seems to have made the best 
guess. 

Notwithstanding the condition of the Pinta the 
little fleet arrived at Gomera on the 9th of 
August. At Teneriffe they succeeded after much 
trouble in satisfactorily repairing the disabled 
vessel and in changing the design of her sails. 
This work seems to have taken considerable 
time, for the Journal notes that the Admiral re- 



146 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

turned to Gomera, Sunday night, September 2d 
with the Pinta. 

Western Lands. 

Las Casas, abridging the log of Columbus, has 
this interesting paragraph : "The Admiral says 
that many honorable Spaniards, inhabitants of 
the island of Hierro, swore that they were on 
the island of Gomera . . . and that each year 
they saw land to the west of the Canaries. . . . 
The Admiral says here that he remembers being 
in Portugal in the year 1484, a man came from 
the island of Maderia to the King to beg him 
for a caravel in order to go to this land which 
he saw, which he swore he saw each year and 
always in the same manner. . . . Having then 
taken water and wood and meat, and the other 
things which the men had, whom the Admiral 
left on Gomera when he went to the island of 
Canaria to repair the Caravel Pinta, he finally 
set sail from the said island of Gomera with 
his three caravels on Thursday, September 6." 

It was at this stage of his voyage that he heard 
of the arrival in the islands of three armed 
caravels of Portugal, which he believed were 
sent to capture him. For a considerable portion 
of two days his ships were becalmed. On the 
tenth of September the Admiral computed that 



THE VOYAGE 



147 



they had travelled forty-eight leagues whereas 
they had actually sailed sixty. He feared to 
frighten his companions if it should chance that 
the voyage proved to be lengthy. Columbus was 
dealing with men who were ignorant and un- 
friendly. It was therefore deemed necessary 
to underestimate the daily travel. Henceforth 
Columbus frequently registered the distance 
sailed as something less than it was. 

Strange Phenomena. 

On Thursday, September 13th, Columbus 
noticed an interesting phenomenon. "On this 
day," say the Journal, "at the beginning of the 
night, the needless declined to the north-west, 
and in the morning they declined a trifle." For 
a few days the variation of the needle escaped 
the notice of the pilots. Two days later Colum- 
bus saw "A marvellous branch of fire fall from 
the heavens into the sea, 4 or 5 leagues distant 
from them." Again they went thirty-nine 
leagues, but the Admiral computed only thirty 
six. This brought them to the Saragossa Sea. 
The weather grew pleasant, like April in An- 
dalusia. They began to see many tufts of very 
green grass, which appeared, to have been but 
recently detached from the land. It was the 
general belief that they were near some island, 



148 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

but not continental land, for, says the Admiral, 
"I make the continental land further onward." 

The next day ''the pilots took the position of 
the North Star, marking it, and they found that 
the needles declined to the northwest a good 
quarter, and the sailors were afraid and were 
troubled, and did not say for what reason." 
More grass was seen, a land bird, as Columbus 
believed, and a craw-fish were regarded as signs 
of land. There was a general feeling of joyous- 
ness and the ships raced, to have the honor of 
first seeing it. Again their hopes were sustained 
by flocks of birds and masses of clouds, certain 
indications, it was thought, of their approach to 
land. By September 19th they had sailed, ac- 
cording to the Nina's pilot, 440 leagues from 
the Canaries and by the reckoning of the Pinta's, 
420. For reasons already explained the Admiral 
was only 400 leagues from those islands. 

Deceptive Signs. 

Grass they saw constantly and also new signs, 
namely, singing birds and pelicans. A whale 
which they saw also, was unmistakable evidence 
that land was not distant. As the winds had 
blown constantly from Spain, the sailors feared 
that there were no breezes to waft them home- 
ward. On the 22d of September their spirits 



THE VOYAGE 149 



were momentarily cheered by winds from the 
opposite quarter. All the now familiar signs 
of land reappeared, but they came to no land. 
Soon afterward they were all deceived by cloud 
formations before them, and Martin Alonso 
Pinzon begged a reward from the Admiral for 
having first seen the land. 

Toward the end of September they had passed 
almost through the Saragossa Sea. Pelicans 
were still with them. The Admiral claimed that 
he had -information about certain islands where 
he then was, but his object was to reach the 
Indies and it would not have been good judgment 
to delay. Pelicans, petrels, and flying-fish were 
seen daily. On October 6th, Martin Alonso 
Pinzon said that it would be well to sail to the 
south-west. The Admiral refused, because he 
thought it would be better to find the continental 
land first. Afterward they could go to the 
islands. On October 7th a flight of birds led him 
to change his course to the southwest. These 
became much more numerous. To the last day 
of the voyage the Admiral understated the dis- 
tance sailed. During the day and night of 
October loth they had made fifty-nine leagues, 
but he told them forty-four. At this time they 
began to murmur much, for even the most cer- 
tain signs had failed. They desired the Admiral 



150 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

to return to Spain, but he persuaded them to 
persevere. By historians of a theatrical turn 
the existence of this discontent among the sailors 
has been worked up into a mutiny. 

Undoubted Evidences. 

A green branch was seen on October nth; 
also reeds, a stick, and a small board. Those 
on another of the vessels saw a little branch 
full of dog-roses. At lo o'clock at night Colum- 
bus saw a light, which he believed was on land. 
He then called Pero Gutierrez, Groom of the 
Chamber of the King. He also saw it. The 
light, which rose and fell, was like that of a 
small wax candle. When all were assembled 
to say "the Salve which all the sailors are in 
the habit of saying and singing in their way", 
the Admiral admonished them to guard well the 
stern forecastle and search diligently for land. 
To him who would first see land the Sovereigns 
had promised an annuity of 10,000 maravedis. 
The Admiral offered in addition to this reward 
a silk doublet. Two hours after midnight the 
land appeared. It seemed distant about two 
leagues. 

Outpost of the New World. 

The vessels lowered sails, and lay to, until 



THE DISCOVERY 151 

day. Then they found themselves at a small 
island of the Lucayas, which in the language 
of the natives was called Guanahani. Afterward 
Columbus named it San Salvador. It seems 
certain that his landfall was at what is now Wat- 
ling Island. On it they saw naked people. The 
Admiral, in the armed boat, landed with Martin 
Alonso Pinzon and Vincente Yahez, his brother. 
He took the royal banner and each of the cap- 
tains had a banner of the true cross, which he 
carried on all the ships as a sign. These dis- 
played the letters F and Y. In the presence of 
the two captains, a notary, and another repre- 
sentative of the Sovereigns, Columbus took 
formal possession for the King and for the 
Queen. An account of this ceremony was re- 
duced to writing by the notary. This was what 
is sometimes called taking documentary posses- 
sion. Meanwhile the natives were assembling. 
Presents were liberally distributed among them, 
and in a little while barter began. At this time 
the dominant thought of the Admiral was their 
conversion. 'Tf it please our Lord," says he, 
"at the time of my departure, I will take six 
of them from here to your Highnesses that they 
may learn to speak." Then they were to be re- 
turned to their own country. On the day follow- 
ing the discovery there was more barter with 



152 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

the natives, who are described by the Admiral 
as a handsome race. There was also made an 
attempt to ascertain the resources of the isle as 
well as of neighboring islands, of which the 
Spaniards soon learned the existence. 

Admiral Deceived. 

Many days were spent in a careful explora- 
tion of the adjacent islands. The sight of a 
gold ring in the nose of a native, and of other 
ornaments of that metal, started the quest for 
gold. This was kept up for a long time. Spices 
were then sent into the interior to see whether 
the Indians had any knowledge of them. Cuba, 
of which the Admiral had heard, was believed to 
be Cipango (Japan). Thence it would be an 
easy sail to Cathay, where he could deliver to 
the Grand Khan the messages of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. This delusion of Columbus is not easy 
to explain, for he was gazing on naked Indians 
whose homes he had visited and whose poverty 
he had beheld with his own eyes. Notwith- 
standing the evidence of his senses, he seemed 
still to dream of the great port of Zaitum, with 
its hundred yearly pepper ships, and of Kinsai, 
with its oriental splendor — the Kinsai described 
by Polo and by Marignolli. Indeed, the in- 
incidents related by Marco Polo, the Admiral 



THE DISCOVERY 153 



frequently read into the scenes through which 
he was passing. 

Wreck of the Santa Maria. 

On November 2d, as we read in the Journal, 
when the Admiral was exploring the northern 
coast of Cuba, he sent his Jewish interpreter, 
Luis de Torres, and one Rodrigo de Jerez to the 
court of the Grand Khan. Though the ambas- 
sadors reported only a village of naked Indians, 
Columbus was not undeceived. Exploration and 
the search for cinnamon continued. Without 
completing his examination of Cuba the Admiral 
went to Hayti. Because of its resemblance to 
Spain he called it La Isla Espahola (The 
Spanish Island.).^ It was while continuing its 
exploration that the flagship of the Admiral, the 
Santa Maria, ran aground and was wrecked. It 
appears that after the fatigues of two days and 
a night, he decided to snatch a little sleep. So 
did the pilot, who intrusted the helm to a boy. 
In saving the articles on board, the Indian chief 
or king and his people rendered very great as- 
sistance. 

This disaster interfered with subsequent dis- 
covery and suggested to Columbus the establish- 

iFrom this is derived the English form Hispaniola. 



154 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

ment of a colony in Espanola. Forty-three men, 
all volunteers, were left on the island. These 
were expected to acquire a knowledge of the 
Indian language and more carefully to ascertain 
the resources of the country. The Admiral took 
every precaution for their comfort. He left 
with them bread and wine for a year ; also seeds, 
tools, and arms. Among those who remained 
were a physician, a gunner, a tailor and many 
skilled artisans. When taking his departure in 
the two remaining ships of the little fleet, Colum- 
bus enjoined upon those first colonists in America 
implicit obedience to their captain, the cultiva- 
tion of friendly relations with the Indians, and, 
above all, that they keep together. Such was 
the beginning of the fort and settlement which 
was called Villa de la Navidad (Town of the 
Nativity).' 

The Dominant Thought. 

The piety or the optimism of Columbus per- 
ceived in the wreck of the Santa Maria the hand 
of Providence. If that disaster had not befallen 
them, he would not have made a settlement on 
the island. From this he expected much. When 

^The place was so named because they came there on 
Christmas day. 



THE DISCOVERY 155 



he returns from Castile, as he hopes to do, '1ie 
will find a tun of gold for which those people 
he is to leave will have traded, and that they 
will have found the Mine of gold and the spices, 
and all that in such a quantity that before three 
years the Sovereigns will undertake and prepare 
to go and conquer the Holy Sepulchre {casa 
santa). 'Because [he says] / thus protested to 
your Highnesses that all the profit of this, my 
undertaking , should be spent in the conquest of 
Jerusalem, and your Highnesses smiled and said 
that it was pleading to them, and that even zvith- 
out this, they had the inclination to do it. '''^ 

In these words of the Admiral is revealed the 
grand purpose of his life. It was for this that 
he began and prosecuted his quest for gold. If 
the stories of the Indians were to be credited, 
there was in the island an abundance of the 
precious metal. In the interval from December 
25th, when the disaster occurred, till January 2, 
1493 every effort was made to ascertain the loca- 
tion of the gold and to win the confidence of the 
King and his subjects. As a matter of prudence 
a fort was built, though the relations with the 
Indians were extremely cordial. Everything was 
done to impress on them that the white men were 

iThacher, Columbus, I, 628. 



156 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

their friends and that they would protect them 
against the Caribs. 

On January 3, 1493 the Admiral had completed 
his preparations for the return voyage. He was 
very anxious, however, concerning Martin Alonso 
Pinzon, who had sometime before sailed away 
and had not yet come back. This accident or 
this defection on the part of his captain had 
constantly embarrassed Columbus in his explora- 
tion. With the remaining ship he feared to 
incur any risks. 

At sunrise on Friday, January 4th, the Admiral 
weighed anchor and in a light wind set out on 
his return. Owing to the lack of a breeze but 
little progress was made. On the sixth of that 
month the Journal notices the return of the 
Pinta. Mention is likewise made of the existence 
of another island that the Indians called Yamaye 
(Jamaica). This and Espaiiola were distant 
from the mainland, perhaps, sixty or seventy 
leagues. On the return voyage two violent 
storms were encountered, one near the Azores 
and the other as they approached the shores of 
Portugal. Fortunately both were safely weath- 
ered, and on March 4, 1493 Columbus dropped 
anchor in the Tagus. Though the celebrated 
Bartholomew Diaz did not waste any courtesy 
upon Columbus, when the King and the nobility 



THE RETURN VOYAGE 157 

of Portugal learned precisely what had been ac- 
complished by their involuntary visitor, they 
showed him much honor. On March 13th the 
Admiral sailed for Seville. Two days later he 
had entered the bar of Saltes. Having heard 
that his Sovereigns were at Barcelona, he pre- 
pared to go thither. In concluding the Journal 
of his first voyage he says, in discussing the 
discovery, ''I hope in our Lord that it will be 
the greatest honor for Christianity, although it 
has been accomplished with such ease.'" 

^In Vol. I of Thacher's Columhus there Is a good transla- 
tion of the Journal. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE STORY OF THE "NAMELESS 
PILOT." 

When Columbus had been in his grave for 
nine and twenty years there was pubHshed at 
Seville (1535) the General History of the Indies, 
Historia General de las Indias, by Gonzalo 
Fernandez de Oviedo. In this work is related 
for the first time the strange story of a Pilot 
who was driven by a storm to an island in 
the Atlantic, far to the westward. He succeeded 
in returning to the Madeiras and was received 
by Christopher Columbus in his own house, in 
the Portuguese island of Porto Santo. There 
he died after giving Columbus his charts and 
journals. The historian's opinion is concisely 
expressed. "But this story goes throughout the 
world among the common people in the manner 
which is told," and he adds, "As for myself I 
think it false." "Para mi yo lo tengo por falso." 

If one consider the date of publication, the 
next writer to mention this story was Francisco 
158 



THE NAMELESS PILOT 159 



Lopez Gomara, whose Historia General de las 
Indias was printed in Saragossa in 1553. This 
work repeats the legend with some additions. 

The Story as Told by Gomara. 

"A caravel sailing on our Ocean-sea en- 
countered such a powerful and continuous east 
wind that it was driven to take refuge in a 
land not known or placed on the map or navi- 
gators' chart. In returning from that land, it 
took a much longer time than was consumed 
in going. And when it arrived here it brought 
no more than the pilot and three or four other 
mariners, who as they had become sick from 
hunger and from toil, died within a short time 
in the Port. And this is how the Indies were 
discovered through the misfortune of those who 
first saw them, since their lives were ended 
without enjoying the benefits of the discovery 
and without leaving, at least without possessing, 
a memorial as to what they were called, or 
where they were, or in what year they were 
found. However, it was not through their fault 
but through the malice of others, or the envy 
of what is called Fortune. And I do not marvel 
at the ancient writers who recount very great 
deeds from little ones, or from obscure begin- 
nings, since we do not know who, so short a 
time ago, found the Indies, which is such a new 



l6o COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

and remarkable thing. The name of this pilot 
does not even remain to us since all who were 
with him died. Some consider this pilot to have 
been an Andalusian, who was trafificking in the 
Canaries and in the Madeiras when that long 
and fatal voyage befell him. Others think he 
was a Biscayan who traded in England and 
France ; and others a Portuguese, who was go- 
ing to or coming from the Mine or India ; which 
agrees very well with the name which those 
new lands took and now bear. There are also 
some who say that the caravel took shelter in 
Portugal and others say that it was in the 
Madeiras or some other island of the Azores. 
Nevertheless no one affirms anything. All agree 
only in the fact that that pilot died in the house 
of Christopher Columbus, in whose possession 
remained the papers belonging to the caravel 
and the relation of all that long voyage, with 
the description and the altitude of the lands 
newly seen and discovered." 

It is evident that Gomara pretended at least 
to regard the story as true. By an Italian 
contemporary, Girolamo Benzoni, the Spanish 
historian is charged with having mixed much 
falsehood with some truth. Apparently the 
ethnical element does not enter into this criti- 
cism or Benzoni would have altogether rejected 



ALONSO SANCHEZ i6l 

the attractive legend. Gomara will be referred 
to again. 

Garcilasso Names the Pilot. 

Between 1601 and 161 5 Antonio Herrera y 
Tordesillas published at Madrid his celebrated 
Historia General de los Hechos de los Castil- 
lanos. "All subsequent historians," says Thacher, 
"have accorded him the highest praise for care, 
accuracy and judgment."^ While the volumes 
of Herrera were in press there was published 
in Lisbon (1609) a work composed by Gar- 
cilasso de la Vega, a Peruvian Inca. This his- 
tory gave not only a more ornate version of 
the Pilot story than any which had yet appeared, 
but it actually gave its hero a local habitation 
and a name. It was Alonso Sanchez of Huelva, 
who, while sailing from the Canaries to the 
Madeiras in 1484, became the sport of an aroused 
hurricane and found himself and seventeen com- 
panions transported in twenty-nine days to the 
island that was afterward named Espahola. 
Then he returned with five survivors to the island 
of Terceira in the Azores, where he was received 
by Christopher Columbus in his own house. 
With this singular story before him Herrera is 
strangely silent. 

^Columbus, T, p. 328. 



l62 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

This Version Contains Errors. 

According to his own statement Columbus was 
in Portugal in 1484 and 1485. We known also 
that he never lived in Terceira ; but one is not 
seriously expected to examine the generous ad- 
ditions made by Garcilasso to the legend boldly 
sketched by Oviedo. Of the five survivors who 
arrived at Terceira, this historian says: 

"They went to stay in the house of the famous 
Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, because they 
knew that he was a great pilot and cosmographer 
and that he made sailing charts. Columbus re- 
ceived them very kindly and entertained them 
all, in order to learn the things which had hap- 
pened on such a long and strange shipwreck as 
the one they said they had suffered. And as 
they arrived in such a shattered condition, not- 
withstanding all that Columbus did for their 
entertainment, they could not be restored to 
health, and all died in his house, leaving him to 
inherit the fruit of the labors which caused their 
deaths. Columbus accepted this inheritance with 
great strength and courage, and having suffered 
other hardships as great and even greater (since 
they lasted longer), he set out with the under- 
taking of giving the New World and its riches 
to Spalp, according as it was blazoned on his 
arms, saying : 



VERSION OF GARCILASSO 163 

*To Castile and to Leon, Columbus gave a New 
World; " 

The expression ''the famous Christopher 
Columbus, a Genoese" is merely a shallow arti- 
fice designed to give to the story an appearance 
of reality. If this was not the purpose of the 
author, his statement is an absurdity, because he 
knew Columbus as the alleged discoverer of 
America not as "the famous Christopher Colum- 
bus, a Genoese." Of course, Columbus was not' 
then famous. Nor was he known as a ''great 
pilot and cosmographer." The kindness of 
Columbus, it appears, was of the interested 
'sort, for he wanted "to learn the things which 
had happened on such a long and strange ship- 
wreck as the one they said they had suffered." 
"And they all died in his house, leaving him 
to inherit the fruit of the labors which caused 
their deaths." At this point Garcilasso missed 
a splendid opportunity. Why did it not occur 
to him that, perhaps, Columbus hurried these 
nameless castaways on to immortality? "Colum- 
bus," he tells us, "accepted this inheritance with 
great strength and courage." So weighty and 
oppressive a secret might well have required 
great strength. "He set out with the undertak- 
ing of giving the New ^^^orld and its riches to 
Spain." It should be remembered, however, that 



l64 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

he attempted to force the favor on Portugal 
before he thought of Spain, and that in a cer- 
tain contingency even England had occurred to 
him. The Columbus arms could have borne 
no such legend. The Admiral was not aware 
that he had given a new world ,to Castile and 
Leon, at any rate not before his expiring hours. 

Version of Las Casas. 

The most ample treatment of this subject, 
however, will be found in the Historia of Las 
Casas. Among other things that celebrated man 
says: *Tt was very common to all of us who 
then lived on this island of Espahola, not 
only those who came on the first voyage with 
the Admiral himself, and v/ith Don Christopher 
Columbus to settle on the island, — among the 
latter of whom there were some who helped 
him to make the discovery, — but also to those 
who a short time after came to the island, to 
talk over and say that the cause which moved 
the said Admiral to desire to come and discover 
these Indies originated in this wise :" 

Las Casas then repeats the story already re- 
lated. In his narrative he says : "Therefore, 
the people on this caravel having in this way 
discovered these countries, if it was so^ in re- 
turning to Spain stopped in a shattered condi- 
tion. Counting out those who, on account Oi 



OPINION OF LAS CASAS 165 

the great labours, hunger and infirmities died 
on the way, those who remained, who were very 
few and sick, it is said came to the island of 
Madeira, where they all died also." The first 
sentence of this passage shows clearly that Las 
Casas did not believe the story which he re- 
lates and discusses so fully. On this point the 
clause "if it zvas so/' seems conclusive. This 
version informs the reader that the Pilot did 
not die at once but for some time lingered on, 
and became an inmate in the house of Columbus, 
''where it is said that he finally died." 

Legend Current After the Discovery. 

The testimony of Las Casas, one of the 
grandest characters of that stirring epoch, leaves 
no doubt that after the discovery of America 
this curious legend was current. If Las Casas 
had believed it, he was a man of the courage 
to declare his opinion. Though he gives it re- 
spectable consideration, he does not endorse it. 
On one point the discrepant narratives are very 
exactly agreed, vi:;., that the Pilot died in the 
house of Christopher Columbus. The version 
of Garcilasso de la Vega furnishes some details. 
These are easily shown to be false. The reader 
should remember that not only are these details 
false but that they were collected and arranged 
one hundred and twenty-five years after the 



l66 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

event which they purport to describe. This 
historian is easily shown to be absurd, because 
he has something definite to say. Those who 
speak vaguely are not so easily answered. How- 
ever, when they venture to be precise, their as- 
sertions are no more worthy of consideration. 
When, for example, the nameless Pilot of the 
historian Gomara was swept from his course, it 
is said that possibly he "was going to or coming 
from the Mine or India." Portuguese voyages 
to the Guinea coast were indeed even then of 
frequent occurrence, but we have no record that 
the Portuguese ever sent to India such a caravel 
as that described. Though they had long been 
endeavoring to reach India, in 1483-1485 they 
had not even reached the Orange River. At 
this point Gomara seems merely to be groping 
for a plausible explanation. After relating some 
familiar facts in the career of Columbus and 
his descendants the consideration of this attrac- 
tive legend will be resumed. 

Restless Colonists. 

When Columbus, in March, 1496, sailed from 
Hispaniola for Spain, he left his brother, Don 
Bartholomew, as Adelantado of the island. The 
utmost vigilance, ability and generosity, how- 
ever, could not win for him the gratitude or 



COLONIAL DISCONTENT 167 

even the confidence of the Spanish colonists. In 
every conceivable manner they embarrassed him ; 
his actions were constantly misrepresented. 
Finally under the leadership of one Roldan, an 
official indebted to the discoverer for his ad- 
vancement, the discontented defied the authority 
of the Adelantado and roamed over the island, 
unsettling- the relations established with the 
natives and committing all sorts of excesses. 
After an absence of two and one-half years, 
prolonged by official hostility, the Admiral at 
last arrived at Isabella. He then saw that in- 
dolence and war had converted regions of 
great natural fertility into mere wastes. The 
habitations of men were, indeed, still to be seen 
there, but the multitude of human beings who 
had long dwelt in them were fugitives in forests 
and caves. The merit, the rank, the magnanim- 
ity of the Admiral could not impose silence on 
the tongue of slander. In even the most law- 
less and licentious course the conspirator Roldan 
found himself supported by a great majority 
of the Spanish colonists. Indeed, the baseless 
accusations of this profligate official received in 
court circles as much consideration as the repre- 
sentations of the Admiral himself. Roldan pre- 
tended that he was the champion of oppressed 
Spaniards against an obscure family of arrogant 
foreigners. Columbus found himself powerless 



l68 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

in the face of flagrant treason, for neither he 
nor his brothers knew many Spaniards in whom 
they could confide. They could only temporize; 
meanwhile laziness grew into a habit and 
licentiousness continued unchecked. 

Insurgents Stop Discovery. 

Thus was a lovely and fertile island converted 
by wicked men into a scene of suffering and 
poverty. The ruffians responsible for this con- 
dition circulated the atrocious calumny that the 
Admiral and his brothers kept the colonists on 
the island in order to exploit them. This was 
one of the few instances in all history when 
accusations were not worthy to be considered 
even as a ground for inquiry, m.uch less a cause 
of royal condemnation. Further discoveries con- 
templated by Columbus were prevented because 
the military ability of Don Bartholomew might 
he needed if the rebels pushed matters to ex- 
tremities. Both the Admiral and the Adelantado 
had shown extraordinary forbearance in deal- 
ing with Roldan. 

Columbus Makes an Enemy. 

His self-respect had on one occasion leH 
Columbus to chastise the insolence of Ximeno 
Breviesca a minion of Fonseca. He had like- 
wise opposed the predatory sojourn in a remote 



COLONIAL DISCONTENT 169 

part of the island of Alonso de Ojeda, another 
friend of this powerful Bishop. These sins 
were venial. The great offense of Columbus 
remains to be told. He had presumed to criti- 
cise the tardiness of this prelate in equipping 
one of the fleets. This trivial circumstance 
doubtless explains the Bishop's subsequent 
hostility toward Columbus and his descendants. 
This is the explanation of Irving. There is no 
documentary evidence that Fonseca was hostile. 
Indeed, there exists a document showing that 
Columbus regarded the Bishop as his friend. 
This theme is matter for a volume rather than a 
paragraph, and cannot be examined in this essay. 
No service that Columbus or his brothers had 
rendered Spain could disarm the resentment of 
the common people. In some quarters no wit- 
ness against the Admiral was so degraded that 
he was not encouraged. It may well be doubted 
whether a greater number of complaints were 
ever made against a public official. Of course, 
the confident and truthful statements of Colum- 
bus himself, of the Adelantado and of a few 
loyal Spanish gentlemen were also forwarded 
to the Sovereigns, and while they may have 
tended temporarily to turn the current of opinion 
in the Admiral's favor, the voice of truth was 
hushed in the clamors of the rabble. 



lyo COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Brutality of Bobadilla. 

When at length tranquillity seemed to be re- 
estabhshed in Hispaniola, the consequences of 
misrepresentation became apparent. It is not 
necessary in this place to rehearse the story of 
Bobadilla's arrival and his interpretation of his 
credentials. His infamous conduct will go 
down the ages with the glory of Columbus. 
Bobadilla acquired such fame as did the fool 
who fired the Ephesian dome. Presently his 
official acts will be briefly noticed. In this con- 
nection but one further observation appears to 
be required, namely, that that the hostility of the 
Admiral's enemies pursued his son and succes- 
sor, Diego, who before the deposition of his 
father had been associated with him in the 
government. 

Ferdinand Regretted His Agreement. 

From the history of that crowded age it is 
not difficult to collect proof of the eagerness 
of Ferdinand to resume those rights and privi- 
leges which had been solemnly granted to Colum- 
bus and his heirs. That, however, was not so 
easily accomplished, if the King expected to 
find a decent pretence, for even in the most 
difficult circumstances both the Admiral and his 
brother, Don Bartholomew, had acted with the 
greatest prudence. Though there was no for- 



A STRANGE COMMISSION 171 

feiture of any rights or privileges, never-resting 
calumny supplied at least a pretext for relieving 
Columbus of his office of viceroy and still later 
of suspending other rights guaranteed by The 
Capitulation. 

It is true that Columbus had asked the Sov- 
ereigns to send out a person learned in the law 
to act as chief judge, and that he had also 
requested the appointment of an impartial um- 
pire to inquire into the controversy between him 
and Roldan. Ferdinand commissioned Don 
Francisco de Bobadilla to decide in matters re- 
lating to the functions of the Admiral and his 
brothers. If he found them guilty, he was em- 
powered to supersede them! It is not necessary 
to inquire into the qualifications of Bobadilla. 
It is sufficient to state that it was possible for 
him to derive wealth and power from the con- 
viction of Columbus. 

Condemned Before Investigation. 

It is not a matter of surprise, then, that on 
the interested rumors which reached Bobadilla 
before he entered the harbor of San Domingo, 
he had already decided the case against Colum- 
bus. AMiile his caravel was standing off the 
port waiting for a favoring breeze, those who 
went out in canoes were given information con- 



172 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

cerning the nature of the commissioner's powers 
and a hint as to his purpose. Within a few 
days Bobadilla had become the idol of the mob. 
By seizing the government before he had in- 
vestigated the conduct of Columbus the com- 
missioner reversed the order of his written in- 
structions. He took up his residence in the 
house of the Admiral, who was absent in another 
part of the island, seized upon his arms, jewels, 
plate, gold and horses; also upon his letters 
and manuscripts, public as well private. In 
a word, Bobadilla acted as if the case trumped 
up against the discoverer had been prejudged 
by some one high in authority in Spain, He 
not only spoke of Columbus with disrespect but 
he boasted that he was empowered to send him 
home in chains. 

Downfall of Columbus Foretold. 

The reader should remember that the downfall 
of the Admiral had been foretold by Ojeda, a 
friend of Fonseca. When at last the Admiral 
heard of the conduct of Bobadilla, he believed that 
it was merely a case of lawless usurpation. He 
could not believe that this was the royal apprecia- 
tion of his services. When contrasted with his 
next act, all former proceedings of the commis- 
sioner were marked by the utmost decorum. He 



A PRISONER 



173 



sent letters of civility and promises of favor to 
Roldan and other enemies of Columbus, the very 
men whose alleged offences he had been sent out 
to investigate. At that time there must have been 
in Spain a very accurate knowledge of conditions 
in Hispaniola, for Bobadilla knew well what was 
expected by his masters. Since his arrival he 
had been almost solely employed in inflaming the 
minds of the colonists against Columbus, and in 
this ignoble work he met with almost perfect 
success. 

In his absence Columbus had been stripped of 
all the emblems of authority. He had endeavored 
to open a correspondence with the usurper, but 
his letters were ignored. At length he concluded 
to meet Bobadilla and he came into the umpire's 
presence almost unattended. As had happened 
in the case of his brother, Diego, the Admiral 
was promptly put in irons. Later Don Bartholo- 
mew submitted quietly to the same indignity. 
The brothers were confined separately on board 
one of the caravels. Bobadilla neither visited 
them nor allowed them to be visited. They were 
kept in ignorance of the charges against them, 
though every miscreant in the island was per- 
mitted to prepare accusations. In fact, it soon 
became known that an accusation against Colum- 
bus was one of the readiest ways to the confidence 



174 



COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



of Bobadilla. Any evidence of opposition to the 
Admiral or to his brothers was regarded at once 
as a proof of spirit and of merit. When, in his 
judgment, Bobadilla had brought together enough 
testimony to justify his proceedings, Columbus 
and his brothers, all ironed, were sent home to 
Spain. "The caravels," says Irving, "set sail 
early in October, bearing off Columbus shackled 
like the vilest of culprits, amidst the scoffs and 
shouts of a miscreant rabble, who took a brutal 
joy in heaping insults on his venerable head, and 
sent curses after him from the shores of the 
island he had so recently added to the civilized 
world."! 



Humane Officials. 

Alonzo de Villejo was appointed to take charge 
of the prisoners and instructed to deliver them 
into the hands of Fonseca or his uncle. This 
fact has given rise to much speculation. Villejo, 
it appears, was not the sort of person that 
Bobadilla believed, for he treated his illustrious 
prisoner with great humanity. Andreas Martin, 
the master of the caravel, also showed much sym- 
pathy with the Admiral in his misfortunes. If 
Columbus had permitted them to do so, these 

'^Christopher Columhus, Knickerbocker edition, III, 214- 
215. 



A PRISONER 



175 



officials would have promptly relieved him of his 
irons. However, he refused this kindness on the 
ground that he had been commanded by letter to 
submit to whatever Bobadilla should order. 

Astonishment was not greater or more general 
when Columbus, returning from his first voyage, 
brought with him the strange inhabitants of a 
new world than when he was brought back a 
prisoner and in chains. In Cadiz and in the rich 
and powerful city of Seville there was an out- 
burst of indignation that resounded through 
Spain. The persecution of Columbus had been 
carried to a reckless length. By their very vio- 
lence his enemies had defeated their cherished 
object. Even those who a short time before had 
been denouncing him were as prompt to repro- 
bate his treatment. 

Admiral's Reputation in Espanola. 

Before Bobadilla's account had reached the 
Sovereigns, the story was known through the 
ay a (governess) of Prince Juan, a lady highly 
esteemed by Isabella. To her Columbus had 
written an account of his wrongs. Among other 
energetic statements he observed to this distin- 
guished person, "Such is the evil'name which I 
have acquired, that if I were to build hospitals and 
churches, they would be called dens of robbers." 



176 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

When Isabella learned of the wrongs suffered 
by Columbus, her generous heart was filled with 
sympathy and indignation. The selfish Ferdinand 
did not attempt to resist the current of public 
opinion. The Sovereigns ordered that two thou- 
sand ducats should be advanced to meet the 
Admiral's expenses ; they wrote him a letter in 
terms of gratitude and affection inviting him to 
court. They had previously directed that the 
three prisoners be set at liberty. In a word, they 
endeavored to convince the world that the im- 
prisonment of Columbus was not only without 
their authority but contrary to their wishes. 

The Admiral was cheered once more by the 
professions of his Sovereigns. He anticipated 
the speedy restoration of his rights and dignities, 
but in this he was doomed to be disappointed. 
The reader must turn to the biographies of 
Columbus for an account of his appearance at 
court in the month of December, 1500. 

Injured by Baseless Charges. 

No public notice was ever taken of the charges 
sent home by Bobadilla. The Sovereigns con- 
tinued to show honor to the ruined Admiral, but 
calumny had done its work. He was destined 
never to return in triumph to San Domingo. In 
the mind of Ferdinand the grotesque accusations 



ROYAL AGREEMENT lyy 

against the discoverer were not without influence. 
He never had the honesty to give Columbus an 
opportunity of meeting his accusers face to face. 
He could have covered them with confusion, 
and the King knew it. Moreover, after a vindi- 
cation Ferdinand would no longer have even the 
appearance of a pretence for withholding those 
ofifices and privileges enumerated in The Capitu- 
lation. 

The Capitulation. 

On the death of the discoverer, in the year 
1506, his son Diego succeeded to his rights as 
viceroy and governor of the New World. These 
were enumerated in the first part of the written 
agreement between Columbus and his Sovereigns. 
This portion of what is familiarly known as 
The Capitulation, La Capitulacion, executed 
April 17, 1492, provided as follows : 

Article one, that he should be Admiral of such 
islands and mainland as he or his heirs should 
discover or acquire with such prerogatives as 
belonged to the office of High Admiral of Castile : 

Article tzvo, that he should be Viceroy and 
Governor-General in all those islands or main- 
lands he might discover or acquire, w4th power to 
name three persons for each oflice under him, 
from which three persons the Sovereign must 
select one-' 



1^8 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Article three, that he should have a tenth of 
the profits arising from buying, bartering, dis- 
covering, acquiring, or obtaining merchandise 
of whatsoever kind : 

Article four, that he should in his quality of 
Admiral have in himself or by deputy sole 
cognizance or judicial jurisdiction of any suit 
growing out of trade or traffic in the lands and 
islands to be discovered. 

Article five, that whenever and as often as 
ships should be equipped for traffic, he should 
have the right to furnish one eighth of all that 
should be expended in the equipment and have 
and enjoy one eighth of the profits which should 
result from such equipment.^ 

Rights of Admiral's Son Withheld. 

If the frank and generous nature of Don 
Diego marked him as an easy victim for crafty 
men, his integrity and ability carried him through 
many a situation that would have overwhelmed a 
person more artful but less upright. In the suc- 
cession of difficulties which accompanied him 
ever after, he was sustained by the irresistible 
power of truth. After the death of his father, 
Don Diego, as lineal successor, urged upon the 
King the restitution of family offices and privi- 

iThacher, Columbus, I, 438. 



SUSPENDED RIGHTS 179 

leges, which had been suspended during the last 
years of the Admiral's life. If Ferdinand could 
forget the obligations of gratitude and justice to 
Columbus, he could not be seriously expected to 
listen to the solicitations of his son. For two 
years Don Diego pressed his suit with energy 
but not with success. At last he asked boldly 
"why his Majesty would not grant him as a 
favor that which was his right, and why he hesi- 
tated to confide in one who had been reared in 
his own house." Ferdinand rephed that in him 
he could confide, but he could not repose so 
great a trust in his children and successors. To 
this Don Diego rejoined, that it was contrary to 
all reason and justice to make him sufifer for 
the sins of his children, who might never be 
born.^ 

Strange Assertion of Ferdinand. 

Though reason and justice were not sufficient 
to move Ferdinand, he finally consented at the 
solicitation of Don Diego to allow him to pursue 
his claims in the ordinary course of law. For 
several years this matter was pending before the 
Council of the Indies. We are now concerned 
with the details of its progress only so far as to 
notice one of the objections urged by Ferdinand 

iHerrera, Hist. Ind., decad. ii, lib. VII, Cap. 4". 



l8o COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 



to justify his opposition to the claims ; namely, 
that Columbus "was not the original discoverer 
of Terra Firma, but only subsequently of certain 
portions of it." This assertion was disproved 
by overwhelming testimony. Finally the Council 
of the Indies unanimously decided in favor of the 
claims of Diego. Ferdinand, however, was not 
yet defeated, for he discovered various pretexts 
for delaying the cession of those rights awarded 
by the Council. This position, which appeared 
impregnable, was unexpectedly turned by an 
interesting event in the career of Diego. He had 
won the hand of Dona Maria de Toledo, niece of 
the powerful Duke of Alva. The rights which 
had been withheld from the son of Columbus 
were cheerfully promised to the son-in-law of 
Don Fabrique de Toledo. Nevertheless, Ferdi- 
nand had not made a complete surrender; he 
merely posted himself on new ground. 

Honored in His Punishment. 

Don Diego was appointed to succeed Nicholas 
de Ovando, who was recalled from the Indies. 
By Isabella that official had been singled out for 
merited punishment. Ferdinand, on the other 
hand, regarded his efficiency with favor, for 
when Ovando returned to Spain, it was as com- 
mander of the fleet that had taken out his suc- 
cessor. In the nature of things Ovando as w^ell 



THE ADMIRALS SON i8[ 

as his friends both in the old and the New 
World were certain to form a nucleus of opposi- 
tion to Don Diego. Ferdinand, who shared their 
sentiments, could not be expected to discourage 
their activity. We shall see presently to what 
it led. 

Don Diego a Colonial Ruler. 

On June 9, 1509, the new Admiral with his 
aristocratic wife, his brother, Don Fernando, 
and his two uncles, Don Bartholomew and Don 
Diego, sailed for the New World. Notwithstand- 
ing the numerous retinue of cavaliers, which 
accompanied him, and the splendors in which 
his reign began, it was soon apparent that Fer- 
dinand had no intention of making him a viceroy 
in reality. Without consulting Don Diego, Fer- 
dinand divided the coast of Darien into two 
portions and appointed a governor for each. 
Alonzo de Ojeda was assigned to the eastern, 
Diego de Nicuesa to the western province. The 
titular viceroy justly regarded this as an in- 
fringement of the capitulations granted and con- 
firmed to his father and his heirs. Justice would 
have chosen for this appointment Bartholomew 
Columbus who, with his more famous brother, 
had made the discovery of the Darien coast, and 
had suffered much in the enterprise. Even the 
ability of Don Bartholomew pointed to him as 



i82 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

the proper officer, but his bold and lofty spirit 
made him unsuitable for the projects which this 
monarch had on hand. When it was too late, 
Ferdinand showed a more enlightened apprecia- 
tion of Bartholomew, who had long been holding 
the office of Adelantado of the Indies. 

Enemies. 

In a few paragraphs it is scarcely possible 
even to suggest the nature of the questions that 
confronted the new Admiral. The King's treas- 
urer, one Miguel Pasamonte, headed a powerful 
faction in opposition. A few of the followers of 
Roldan, too, placed themselves in the ranks of 
his enemies. It was charged that Diego designed 
to make himself monarch of the island. The 
Bishop Fonseca, who was said to have been hos- 
tile to the discoverer, was now the most trusted 
officer of Ferdinand and naturally would regard 
seriously the calumnies circulated against his son. 
Because of his humanity Don Diego arrayed 
against him a more numerous and, perhaps, even 
a more influential class, namely, those who were 
interested in exploiting the natives. He was op- 
posed to the repartimiento (distribution) of 
Indians among planters and others. Though 
he ameliorated the condition of the natives, he 
was unable to abolish this system, which con- 
tinued long to be the source of every species of 



THE ADMIRAL'S SON 183 

inhumanity. By removing the more cruel of 
the superintendents he offended not only the dis- 
placed officials but all their friends. Slanders 
travelled to Spain even with the joyful tidings 
of the bloodless conquest of Cuba. Though 
Don Diego had succeeded in every enterprise 
that he undertook, he found it necessary to ask 
permission to visit the court of Ferdinand in 
order to refute the calumnies that had been sent 
home as well as to vindicate his official conduct. 
Leaving the Vice-Queen, Dona Maria, and his 
worthy uncle, the Adelantado, in charge of af- 
fairs, he took his departure on the ninth of April, 

15 1 5. Not long afterward his distinguished 
uncle, Don Bartholomew, died at an age that 
must have been somewhat advanced. On re- 
ceiving tidings of this event Ferdinand is said to 
have expressed great concern. 

Good Intentions of Charles V. 

While Don Diego was assiduously seeking an 
audience to vindicate himself at court, King 
Ferdinand himself died on the 23d of January, 

1 5 16. Cardinal Ximenes, acting in the absence 
of the new King, declined to decide on the repre- 
sentations and claims of the Admiral. Finally, 
in 1520, he obtained from the Emperor Charles 
V a recognition of his innocence of all the 
charges against him. The nev/ ruler endeavored 



l84 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

to establish harmony among the officers of his 
government, but Pasamonte and his band were 
implacable. Libels still flowed from their vindic- 
tive pens. In 1523, only three years after his 
return to Hispaniola, the Admiral returned once 
more to Spain in order to disperse a new cloud 
of calumnies raised by the indefatigable Pasa- 
monte. Worn out in defending himself against 
the baseless charges of hereditary enemies and 
in fruitless efforts to get a full acknowledgment 
of his claims, Don Diego expired on February 
23, 1526. 

Don Luis becomes Admiral. 

Left alone in the New World, and in the midst 
of enemies, the Vice-Queen returned to Spain, 
where her energy gained for her son, Don Luis, 
the title of Admiral of the Indies. Charles V 
could not be prevailed on, however, to confer 
on Don Luis the title of viceroy, although the 
dignity had been decreed to his father. Being 
aware of the fate of his father and being less 
determined in support of his rights, he abandoned 
his claim to the viceroyalty for the title of Duke 
of Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica. The one 
tenth of the produce of the Indies he commuted 
for a pension of 1,000 doubloons of gold. Leav- 
ing no legitimate son, he was succeeded by his 
nephew Diego. This event provoked some litiga- 



A GREAT LAWSUIT 185 

tion, but that was ended by the marriage of two 
among the more influential of the rival claimants. 
In 1578, Diego died without issue. With him 
the legitimate line of Columbus became extinct. 

A Great Lawsuit. 

Compared with the controversy that ensued 
after the event mentioned, all previous litigation 
was like the skirmishing of outposts before 
armies engage. With the extinction of the legiti- 
mate line of Columbus there arose over the 
estates and dignities descended from him one of 
the most important lawsuits that the world has 
witnessed. One sister of Don Diego and the 
children of another advanced their claims. To 
these parties was added Bernard Colombo of 
Cogoleto, who claimed as a descendant of Bar- 
tholomew Columbus, a brother of the discoverer. 
This claim was rejected because the Adelantado 
left no acknowledged descendants. Another in- 
teresting claimant was Baldassare Colombo, of 
the house of Cuccaro. He maintained that 
Domenico Colombo, Lord of Cuccaro, was the 
father of Christopher Columbus, the Admiral. 
The ancestor of Baldassare Colombo, from his 
own statement, died in 1456, whereas it was 
shown that the father of the discoverer, also 
named Domenico Colombo, was still living more 
than thirty years later. This essay is not further 



i86 COLUMBUS- AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

concerned with either the fate of the applicants 
or the disposition of their claims. On December 
2, 1608, the Council of the Indies finally de- 
cided this celebrated case. The male line was 
declared to be extinct. Don Nuno Gelves de 
Portugallo was put in possession, and became 
Duke of Veragua. 

Credulity of the Colonists. 

Perhaps enough has been said to prove that 
the enemies of Christopher Columbus and of his 
descendants would have seized with eagerness 
upon the legend of the nameless pilot, if they 
did not fear to be laughed to scorn. We have 
already noticed their brutal treatment of the 
Admiral. Their activity discovered on the part 
of his son, Diego, every trifling omission and 
magnified it into a dangerous delinquency; their 
antipathy exaggerated every imprudent action 
into the appearance of a crime ; indeed, it placed 
the most unfavorable construction upon a pro- 
posed policy of which time will never dbubt the 
humanity. To many early officials in Hispaniola 
doors became drawbridges, windows grew to look 
like loopholes, and peaceful walls took on the 
frown of bastions.^ 

lAmong the absurd misrepresentations of the conduct 
of Don Diego was one which suspected that a large, many- 
windowed house that he was building, was intended for a 
fortress. 



AN UNUSED ARGUMENT 187 

The time, the place, the circumstances de- 
manded a dead pilot. A ghost that could re- 
hearse a friendly tale were worth whole archi- 
pelagos. Though often gravelled for matter 
against Columbus and his descendants, the royal 
magicians never dared to raise this spectre. In- 
deed, to Ferdinand as to his more famous grand- 
son Charles the shade of Alonso Sanchez proved 
-of small worth. \Mien the chief export from His- 
paniola was calumny, why was this fundamental 
objection overlooked? We fail to find it even 
named among the multitude of arguments that 
for generations perplexed and oppressed the 
Council of the Indies. 

Pilot Story Favored by Vignaud. 

The writer is aware that with some Columbian 
students the story of the nameless pilot has found 
higher favor. In discussing the development of 
the great idea of Columbus, M. Vignaud has 
assigned to it a place of prominence.^ Doubt- 
less he would consider himself guilty of a dis- 
location had he discussed it in any other con- 
nection ; but even though he could plead in justi- 
fication the example of the whole line of his- 
torians back to the days of Oviedo, it would 

Wignaud, Histoire Critique dc la Gra-nde Enterprise de 
Vhristophe Colomb, II, 2X1-233. 



l88 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

only prove that in the realm of history servility 
is more common than science. It is not, how- 
ever, a slavish following of antique chronicles 
that has brought M. Vignaud to his present 
opinion. He does not worship at the shrine fre- 
quented by the multitude. Indeed, of all the 
biographers of Columbus he is the boldest, the 
greatest iconoclast and certainly one of the best 
scholars among contemporary Columbians. 

Toscanelli Correspondence Challenged. 

And precisely what is claimed by those who 
believe the alleged adventures of Alonso San- 
chez? Merely that at Terceira, or somewhere 
else, the grateful pilot, whilst death was sealing 
up his eyes, bequeathed to Columbus the journals 
of his fatal voyage and a chart on which he had 
plotted his vagrant course. This secret it was 
that sustained Columbus even in the gaze of 
queens and kings. When M. Vignaud is re- 
minded that even before the earliest date assigned 
to the pilot's alleged discovery (1483) Columbus 
had been discussing with Toscanelli the feasi- 
bility of a westward voyage to Cathay, the his- 
torian pronounces the correspondence between 
these men a fabrication. It matters little that 
M. Vignaud names no fabricator, for we may 



CANON MARTINS 189 

have an undoubted demonstration of the exist- 
ence of forgery and yet be unable to discover its 
author. The original correspondent of Tos- 
canelli is said to have been one Fernam Martins, 
a Canon of Lisbon. Him M. Vignaud has ban- 
ished from the field of discussion, on the ground 
that no such person ever existed. In other 
words, the Florentine astronomer never wrote to 
Columbus concerning a westward voyage to the 
East, and there was no Fernam Martins to whom 
he could have written. Nevertheless, some able 
investigators believe that there was a Lisbon 
canon whose acts and whose movements describe 
Fernam Martins. At any rate, the point is a 
controverted one. To put the matter concisely, 
it is necessary to prove the Toscanelli corres- 
pondence a fabrication in order to sustain the 
pilot story. This subject has already been dis- 
cussed in chapter VII. 

Legends to be Treated Separately. 

In the opinion of the writer it would be more 
scientific to discuss in one place the facts in the 
development of the idea of a westward voyage 
to the orient and to consider separately, and 
separately to label all European legends of trans- 
Atlantic discovery. If it be contended that it is 
absurd to consider in one view an aspect in the 



IQO COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

development of the idea of Columbus and his 
experience as a colonial ruler, the reply of the 
writer is that the time and place of its origin 
subjects the pilot story to suspicion. The legend 
sprang up in an era fruitful in calumny. 



CHAPTER X. 

ENGLAND'S CLAIM TO NORTH 
AMERICA. 

Though Cabot was not a predecessor of Co- 
lumbus and, therefore, a discussion of his ex- 
ploits may seem out of place in this essay, it is 
believed that the following pages will be of assist- 
ance to the general reader. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to call attention to the relation between 
this section and the concluding paragraph of 
chapter III. Notwithstanding the fact that our 
school histories are sufficiently clear as to the 
importance of Cabot's voyages, the ideas of many 
persons, otherwise intelligent, on this matter ap- 
pear a little obscure. 

Cabot's Voyage Suggested by Success of 
Columbus. 

With serious students and serious readers of 
history unsupported assertions have little weight. 
At every step they require proof. It seems 
necessary, therefore, to give reasons for one's 
belief in the important statement that John 

191 



192 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Cabot's first expedition was suggested by the 
example of Columbus. These are best collected 
from English records, from the despatches of 
Spanish and of Italian ambassadors then in Eng- 
land, and from the correspondence of intelligent 
foreign merchants living in London. In that age 
Portugal, Spain and the Italian states surpassed 
England in the extent of their commerce. The 
Italian was the cosmopolitan of that era. 

On January 21, 1496, Dr. Puebla, the Spanish 
ambassador in England, informed Ferdinand and 
Isabella that a person ''like Columbus" had just 
submitted to Henry VII a project for trans- 
Atlantic discoveries. These were to be under- 
taken ''without prejudice to Spain and Portugal." 
On the 5th of April, 1496, the King granted 
letters patent to John Cabot and his three sons, 
Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctus. By this instru- 
ment they were empowered "to seeke out, dis- 
cover, and find whatsoever isles, countreys, re- 
gions or provinces of the heathen and infidels, 
whatsoever they be, and in what part of the 
world soever they be, zvhich before this time have 
been unknown to all Christians/'^ 

Apart from the communication of Puebla, the 
very application of Cabot shows a familiarity 

iHakluyt VII, 143. 



SEBASTIAN CABOT 



193 



with the grants made to Columbus by the Spanish 
Sovereigns. He asked for authority to make 
discoveries in the eastern, western and northern 
seas and for "dominion over any islands so 
discovered."^ The omission of ''southern seas" 
from the patent shows the purpose of Henry VH 
not to enter those fields of exploration in which 
the rulers of Spain and Portugal were then 
engaged. 

In May, 1497, the expedition sailed. It con- 
sisted of "one small ship and eighteen men, 
nearly all Englishmen from Bristol : — "uno 
piccolo naviglo e XVIII persone, quasi tutti 
inglesi, e da Bristol."^ 

Testimony of Sebastian Cabot. 

This paper is in no way interested in the 
details of either the equipment of, or the dis- 
covery made by the great fellow-townsman of 
Columbus, but rather with the motives which in- 
spired his bold undertaking. His son, Sebastian, 
in most matters not a very credible witness, is, 
under the circumstances, a very satisfactory one. 
During a part of a long lifetime he constantly en- 
deavored to efface all traces of his father's ex- 

iBourne, Spain in America, 55 ; Hakluyt VII, 143. 
^Second despatch of Soncino, the Milanese ambassador to 
London. 



194 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

ploits and he took to himself entire credit for the 
success of the first expedition. He does not, how- 
ever, as we might expect from his character, claim 
the sole merit of having conceived that project 
but, on the contrary, admits that he conceived the 
notion while in England, tip on hearing the dis- 
covery made by Columbus discussed at the court 
of Henry VII . Hakluyt, VII, 147-148, prints 
this discourse of Sebastian Cabot: "When my 
father departed from Venice many yeeres since 
to dwell in England, to follow the trade of 
marchandises, he tooke me with him to the citie 
of London, while I was very young, yet having 
neverthelesse some knowledge of letters of hu- 
manitie, and of the Sphere. And when my father 
died in that time when newes were brought that 
Don Christopher Columbus Genuese had dis- 
covered the coasts of India, whereof was great 
talke in all the Court of king Henry the 7, who 
then raigned in so much that all men with great 
admiration affirmed it to be a thing more divine 
then humane, to saile by the West into the East 
where spices growe, by a way that was never 
knowen before, by this fame and report there 
increased in my heart a great flame of desire to 
attempt some notable thing. ..." 

When Sebastian Cabot made this admission, 
the relation between the first voyage of John 
Cabot and the first voyage of Columbus must 



SEBASTIAN CABOT I95 

have been a matter of common knowledge. 
The reader may put what construction he chooses 
upon Sebastian's assertion that his father died 
about 1493. Raimondo di Soncino, the Duke of 
Milan's ambassador in London, states that John 
Cabot, having heard how Spain and Portugal 
were acquiring new lands, thought of conferring 
a similar favor upon the King of England.^ In- 
deed, it is from the pen of this diplomat that we 
derive all our knowledge of the genesis of Cabot's 
project. He tells us further that the navigator 
had a map of the world and a globe, and that 
earlier in life he had been in Mecca, where he 
learned that spices came from the remoter East. 
He believed that all the spices in the world grew 
in Cipango (Japan), which he expected to reach. 
H his efforts were successful, "he hoped to make 
London a greater market for spices than Alex- 
andria."- The world knows now what this 
Italian sailor did for England. An entry in the 
privy-purse accounts shows that on August loth 
the frugal Henry Vll gave "To hym that found 
the New Isle, iio."^ Later in the same year, 
however, he was given in addition a pension of 
£20 a year, to be paid out of the customs' re- 
ceipts of Bristol. 

iRamusio, Vol. I, fo. 374. 
^Bourne, Spain in America, 57. 
^Weai'c^ Cabot's Discovery, 124. 



196 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

Little Known of John Cabot. 

Whether Sebastian Cabot was on either the 
voyage of 1497 or that of 1498 is a controverted 
point. Some authorities go so far as to state 
that he was never on ,the 'coast of North 
America, and that his only connection with the 
New World was his command, in 1526, of an un- 
successful expedition to the region of the river 
La Plata, in South America. Of Sebastian 
Cabot we know much. His father still remains, 
after vast research, little more than the shadow 
of a name. He was not, like his great com- 
patriot, Columbus, a fluent writer, but left his 
fame as a rich legacy to his son Sebastian. His 
attitude toward his father has been told, and to 
the writer it seems to rest on much more than 
the gossip of Ramusio. England, to whom John 
Cabot gave a continent, has preserved few 
memorials concerning him. Columbus was much 
more fortunate. Spanish records of his achieve- 
ments are abundant. Moreover, unlike Sebastian 
Cabot, Ferdinand Columbus bestowed the most 
pious care in illustrating the exploits of his 
father. For a time, it is true, the English failed 
to follow up the discoveries of Cabot, but when 
they were prepared to do so, men of affairs and 
writers, such as Hakluyt, promptly claimed 
North America by reason of priority of dis- 



ENGLAND'S TITLE 197 



covery. Hakluyt, \'ol. VIII, p. 35, says that 
the Cabots "were the first finders out of all that 
great tract of land stretching from the cape of 
Florida unto those islands which we now call 
Newfoundland; all which they brought and an- 
nexed unto the crowne of England." After- 
ward that claim was never forgotten. In his 
two voyages John Cabot may have traced the 
outline of much of North America. From the 
second, that of 1498, he is believed never to 
have returned— at any rate, no man knows his 
resting place. 



CHAPTER XL 

CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISCOVERY. 

As we have seen in a preceding chapter, the 
little caravel of Columbus encountered a second 
tempest as it approached the coast of Portugal. 
This it was that compelled the daring mariners to 
seek a haven in the mouth of the river Tagus. 
The tidings told by them were soon known in 
every part of the kingdom. Indeed, before the 
Admiral resumed his voyage the news had 
travelled far. His reception in Spain and the sub- 
sequent incidents of his career are among the 
most familiar topics in history. It is not the 
object of this section to tell over this eventful 
story, but briefly to enumerate some of the larger 
consequences of the discovery. 

Returns to Palos. 

Chapter VIII brought the progress of Colum- 
bus back to the bar of Saltes. During the after- 
noon of March 15, 1493, the Admiral cast anchor 
in the harbor of Palos. One can hardly imagine 

198 



SPREADING THE NEWS 



199 



the rejoicings in that Httle port. The entire 
population turned out to welcome Columbus with 
a procession, and, in the words of his son Ferdi- 
nand, to give 'Hhanks to our Lord for so great 
favor and victory."^ Some among the list of 
immortals who had volunteered to accompany 
the Admiral into strange seas were not with 
those who witnessed his triumph, but concern- 
ing the fate of those left in the Indies there were 
no misgivings. 

When near the Azores, and shipwreck seemed 
imminent, the Admiral wrote to Luis de Sant- 
angel and Gabriel Sanchez, both high officers of 
the government, an account of the expedition. 
One letter is merely a duplicate of the other. 
The contents of these communications soon be- 
came known in Spain, as the news of the dis- 
covery was already known in Portugal. Peter 
Martyr had a share in spreading the intelligence 
through Italy. 

Among foreign potentates Pope Alexander VI, 
himself a Spaniard, was the first to be informed 
of the discovery. While in making this announce- 
ment the Sovereigns mention the existence in the 
new islands of gold and spices, they declare that 
discovery and the extension of Christianity were 
the motives that influenced them to equip the 

^Ferdinand Columbus, Historie, 124. 



2CO COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

expedition. Of a shorter route to the Indies 
they say nothing. 

Treaty of Tordesillas. 

In his interview with Columbus the King of 
Portugal barely suggested that the recent dis- 
coveries might be within his jurisdiction as Lord 
of Guinea. The possibility of a conflict of inter- 
ests led the Pope, when afterward invited to act 
as umpire, to delimit two spheres of influence. 
His Holiness did not, as is often said, divide the 
world between Spain and Portugal. The ar- 
rangement then made was not perfectly satisfac- 
tory to Spain. Nor was King John of Portugal 
entirely satisfied with the location of the line of 
demarcation. Therefore, on June 7, 1494, by 
the treaty of Tordesillas, it was agreed between 
Spain and Portugal that the line should be drawn 
370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. 
Subsequently this change gave Portugal a titlq 
to Brazil. The full consideration of this sub- 
ject belongs to early American diplomatic history. 

Sunny Hours. 

''Blest and thrice blest the Roman 
Who sees Rome's brightest day. 

Who sees that long victorious pomp 
Wind down the Sacred Way." 



SECOND EXPEDITION 201 

Spain had never beheld such a triumph as, 
in April, 1493, stretched from Seville toward 
Barcelona. As the cavalcade wound its way 
along the highways, people from every town and 
hamlet crowded in to catch a glimpse of the 
Discoverer, of the Indians, and of the productions 
of their country. Arrived near Barcelona he was 
met and escorted by dignitaries to the place 
where their Majesties awaited him. When he 
went to kiss their hands, they rose, as to a person 
of great distinction, and caused him to sit beside 
them. The scanty records of the time represent 
the Discoverer as enjoying the appreciation of 
his Sovereigns. If this was not Spain's brightest 
day, there is no doubt that it was the happiest 
that Columbus had yet known, perhaps that he 
was destined to know. 

The admiration of the crowd did not turn the 
head of Columbus. In this sunny hour he em- 
ployed himself in superintending the preparations 
for a new expedition, for it w^as promptly de- 
cided to establish a colony in "The Indies," as 
the new islands were henceforth called. This 
was intended as a centre for further exploration. 
The work went on apace. This time there was 
no difficulty in getting men or money. Soldiers, 
sailors and adventurers were now eager to enroll 
themselves. As early as September 25, 1493, 



202 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

there were assembled seventeen ships and about 
fifteen hundred men, including both soldiers 
and colonists. The Indians, who had been con- 
verted, were returning to their homes ; there 
were also artisans, soldiers, knights, courtiers, 
and missionaries. They brought with them both 
tools and implements of husbandry, plants and 
seeds; also horses and cattle. This was the first 
step in the transfer of European civilization to 
the New World. On Sunday, November 3d, the 
expedition arrived at one of the Antilles. By 
night of the 27th it came to the vicinity of Fort 
Navidad. A salute from the fleet was followed 
by an ominous silence. Toward midnight there 
came from the shore Indians shouting *'A1- 
mirante ! Almirante !" When they came on 
board, they told Columbus that many Christians 
had died and others had gone into the country 
with their wives, some with many wives.. Morn- 
ing confirmed the fears of the Admiral. Not a 
Spaniard survived. To this day mystery sur- 
rounds the fate of the garrison. Perhaps they 
perished during an invasion of the Caribs. An 
imprudent act may have aroused the resentment 
of their neighbors. In any case it would seem 
that they did not attend carefully to the injunc- 
tions of Columbus. 

The ill-fated Navidad was abandoned and a 
more suitable site for a town selected on Decem- 



FOUNDING OF ISABELLA 203 



ber 17, 1493. On the northern coast of Hayti 
the Spaniards began to construct the first city 
in *The Indies." The place was appropriately 
named Isabella. Of its history this essay need 
only state that in the care taken for its wel- 
fare there is no evidence that Columbus was a 
visionary. As a colonial administrator he was 
preeminently successful. li mistakes were made, 
it is not easy to place the responsibility on him. 
Chapter IX has described the situation in the 
island, at least so far as it affected the future 
of Columbus. Unfortunately for him and for 
the colonists he was taken sick. During that ill- 
ness began the trouble which undermined author- 
ity and discipline. The real offense of Columbus 
appears to have been that of proclaiming that 
all must work. Sickness and death had dimin- 
ished the number of laborers, and when gentle- 
men were threatened with punishment in case 
of their refusal to work, they never forgave the 
Admiral. 

Exploration. 

Leaving the colony to be ruled by a commis- 
sion, the Admiral undertook a more careful 
exploration of Cuba. In May, 1494, when sail- 
ing along the southern shore, he discovered 
Jamaica, of which he had heard on his first 
voyage. Lack of provisions prevented him from 



204 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

circumnavigating the island, thus giving him 
and his companions the impression that it was 
continental land. This illusion seems to have 
suggested to him the idea of sailing round the 
world. On his return toward Isabella there was 
a further exploration of Jamaica and Hayti. An 
illness of five months followed this activity of 
the Admiral. 

Discontent. 

In his absence certain officials had assisted in 
promoting discontent, and a considerable number 
seized the ships of Bartholomew Columbus, who 
had come out as Adelantado (military governor) 
of the island. On their return to Spain they 
gave an account of the Indies not in harmony 
with that of Columbus. To them the rule of the 
Adelantado seemed to have been marked by 
extreme rigor. Perhaps it was Don Bartholo- 
mew's energetic administration that gained for 
the Admiral the reputation of being cruel. 

The situation of the colony was critical in the 
extreme. Leaving his brother Bartholomew in 
charge of affairs the Admiral returned to Spain 
in 1496. After much effort a little fleet was fitted 
out in 1498. A part of it went directly to Isa- 
bella, while the remaining ships sailed southward 
with the Admiral. On July 31, the island of 
Trinidad was sighted. During the following day 



DISCOVERY OF MAINLAND 205 

the mainland was seen. This land he declared to 
the Sovereigns to be an "otro mundo" (another 
world). It was designated for immediate ex- 
ploration by the Adelantado, but when the Ad- 
miral met his brother Bartholomew in Espafiola, 
he was confronted by another sort of* problem. 
The natives had refused to pay tribute, the 
Spaniards were at war among themselves. In 
describing the colonists, Columbus is unsparing 
in his use of epithets. Unfortunately there is 
ground for believing that his characterization 
of the first settlers is scarcely exaggerated. On 
their part, the colonists do not spare him. It 
was in this situation that Bobadilla arrived in 
Espaiiola. His attitude toward the Admiral has 
already been described. To a lady who had been 
nurse of Prince Juan, the Admiral from his 
prison-ship, enumerated his grievances. It was 
in this letter that, among other statements, he 
said : " ... by the Divine will I have sub- 
dued another world to the dominion of the king 
and queen." It has been mentioned that the 
charges against him were dismissed by the Sov- 
ereigns and that in a friendly letter he w^as re- 
quested to appear at Court. 

Fourth Voyage. 

To exploration and colonization Columbus had 
given an immense impetus. Between 1498, when 



2o6 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

he discovered the mainland of South America, 
and 1502, when he set out on his fourth and last 
voyage, deeds of noble note had been performed 
by the Portuguese. That nation had not only 
found the real Indies, but one of its great cap- 
tains, Pedralvarez Cabral, had made, in 1500, an 
independent discovery of South America. Not- 
withstanding the fact that Prince Henry had 
stated the problem for the navigators of his 
nation, and that their achievements were great, 
the success of Columbus gave a new stimulus to 
Portuguese discovery. In none of his extant writ- 
ings does Columbus state the effect produced on 
his mind by the voyages of Vasco da Gama to 
India and back. One thing, however, seems 
clear. Columbus was eager to demonstrate that 
the real Indies could be reached by going west. 
It was in making this attempt that he concluded 
his career as navigator. 

Setting out, May 9, 1502, from the Canaries 
his four ships arrived at Martinique in the short 
space of three weeks. His Sovereigns had prac- 
tically forbidden him to touch at Espahola on 
his outward voyage, though he might call on his 
return. When the accidents of the sea compelled 
him to go there for another ship, he was not 
allowed to land in his recent dominions. This 
was the assistance received by Columbus from 
the colony that he had established in order to 



ASHORE IN JAMAICA 207 

promote discovery. Driven from the ungrateful 
island, he entered upon the the most arduous 
voyage of his life. "For eighty-eight days he was 
buffeted by continuous storms. During that time 
he saw neither sun nor stars." At last land was 
descried. This he called Gracias a Dios (Thanks 
be to God). On the Honduras coast he met a 
large canoe covered with an awning. It was 
filled with men, women, children and merchan- 
dise. These people were partly clothed, and their 
fabrics showed fine workmanship. It was clear 
that in those regions there was something more 
than naked natives. If he had had an inter- 
preter, he could, no doubt, have learned some- 
thing to his advantage. As it was, he followed 
the coast-line to Panama. It was on this voyage 
that he heard of the Pacific Ocean. Later he 
was compelled to beach his ships at Jamaica. 
Thence in a canoe he sent rowers to Espafiola 
for assistance. This achievement is one of the 
romances of the sea. After a weary wait of al- 
most a year he was rescued by caravels from that 
island. 

In November, 1504, broken in health and spirit, 
Columbus arrived at Seville. A careful student 
of his career has the following concise sum- 
mary : ''Each successive voyage since his first 
had left him at a lower point. On his return 



2o8 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

from his second he was on the defensive; after 
his third he was deprived of his viceroyalty; on 
the fourth he was shipwrecked, in addition to 
his previous misfortunes. The last blow, the 
death of Isabella, soon followed."^ 

Obscure Death. 

After a considerable interval his health per- 
mitted him to attend court, but the arduous labors 
of the past twelve years, 1492-1506, had perma- 
nently impaired his strength and he gradually 
grew weaker. The chronicle of Jose de Vargas 
Ponce has this entry : "El Almirante Colon, que 
descubrio las Indias y otras muchas tierras, 
Morio en esta Villa [Valladolid] Miercoles 
vispera de la Ascension, 20 de Mayo de 506." 
"The Admiral Columbus, who discovered the 
Indies and many other lands, died in this city 
[Valladolid] Wednesday the eve of the Ascen- 
sion, 20th of May, 1506." 

Ten years elapsed before the fact of the ob- 
scure death of Columbus was noticed in print. 
During that interval the Spanish nation was too 
busy exploring and colonizing the New World 
of which they had become possessed to give 
much thought to him who had acquired it. It 
is true that there were in Spain many who had 

^Bourne, Spain in America, 81. 



SPANISH ACHIEVEMENT 209 

become bankrupt in fortune and in health while 
participating in the project of Columbus. It is 
no less a fact that if these had acted upon his 
advice, their condition would have been very 
different. If, however, some private persons 
felt that they had been injured by his projects, 
the nation as a whole had not been. 

Long before the era of Columbus, Spanish 
chivalry had performed memorable deeds. It 
broke the military spirit of the Caliphs and saved 
Gaul not only from a second invasion but from 
possible Mohammedan domination ; it nearly bal- 
anced the fall of Constantinople by the conquest 
of Granada, and in an earlier age had left the 
other nations of western Europe free to invade 
the land of the Saracen and of the Turk. These 
facts and all that they suggest belong to the 
history of Europe. It is with Spanish achieve- 
ment in America that this section is concerned. 

Spain discovered a new world, she opened up 
to the commerce of Europe the trade of the 
Pacific, she circumnavigated the globe. Her 
dauntless mariners traced the winding shores 
of the Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Cape Horn, 
and the coast-line of the Pacific from Magellan's 
Strait almost to the Columbia. She founded an 
empire stretching from the prairies of the Mis- 
souri to the plains of Patagonia. These achieve- 
ments are among the commonplaces of history. 



210 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

In the field of early exploration, from 1492 to 
1576, the triumphs of England or of France 
seem insignificant if compared with those of 
Spain. In conquest and in colonization they were 
as far behind her. Nor was it in her New World 
seminaries of learning, though they were numer- 
ous, and, for the time, admirable, that Spain 
stood, as undoubtedly she did, without a peer. 
Her superiority was chiefly in her grand endeavor 
to lift millions of Indians to the plane of Euro- 
pean religion and civilization, one of the grand 
achievements of recorded time. Oftentimes it 
is flippantly asserted that in America the Span- 
iards destroyed two civilizations each of which 
was superior to their own. The difference be- 
tween the civilization of the Spaniards and that 
of the most cultured native races was as great 
as that between the Christian churches, founded 
by the Spaniards, and those hideous Aztec 
temples that forever smoked with human sacri- 
fice and dripped with human blood. 

Spain broke down in the endeavor to achieve 
what no nation, ancient or modern, has ever 
attempted. When she was leading the powers 
of Europe, her population, diminished by cen- 
turies of warfare, could not have been above 
6,500,000. It was this handful of people that 
won for Spain a splendid immortality, and for 
Christianity vast realms where Chaos still held 



SPANISH ACHIEVEMENT 211 

sway, regions that from the first had been con- 
secrated to the powers of Night and Darkness. 
For the loss of her colonial dependencies she 
consoled herself with the reflection that before 
their surrender she had implanted in them the 
elements of civilization. It needs no prophetic 
eye to behold the future of Latin America and 
to see in that part of the globe the development 
of colossal states. 

Amidst the wildernesses of mighty continents, 
on unnumbered islands in the watery waste, in 
remote and unknown archipelagos the Spaniards 
endeavored to civilize a multitude of races of 
which even the most advanced had scarcely at- 
tained to the upper stages of barbarism. In 
that grand undertaking they fell short of per- 
fect success. If, to-day, there are to be found 
in what was formerly the colonial empire of 
Spain millions of dusky people with a tincture 
of civilization, let them, and let their rulers thank 
the patient, toilsome friar. In apostolic fields 
this spiritual hero has achieved triumphs as 
unique as they were grand. It was of such vic- 
tories that Columbus had dreamed. His genius 
it was that made them possible. If he had been 
assisted by kindred spirits to do another deed 
above a mortal pitch, it is by no means certain 
that there would not have been a sixteenth cen- 
tury crusade. Now the friar is almost every- 



212 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

where superseded in his sublime office. To him 
the methods of the new missionaries speak feebly. 
He worked his way, they work theirs. The 
problem has changed. It is not now, as once it 
was, a question of converting cannibals, naked 
savages, and barbarians. 

New Light. 

In this brief study the reader has met re- 
nowned travellers and intrepid seamen. He has 
been told that Columbus was not the only navi- 
gator of his era that voyaged through strange 
seas ; but he has also seen that, except in the case 
of Bartholomew Diaz, all these nautical heroes 
performed their exploits after the memorable 
expedition of Columbus, when his courage and 
seamanship had raised the interdict from the 
mysterious Sea of Darkness. New light had 
dawned from his discovery. Columbus was dis- 
tinctly a product of his own time, the greatest 
among a giant race of navigators. As it was 
Italy that had trained both the Portuguese and 
the Spaniards in the art of navigation, it . was 
peculiarly fitting that an Italian should guide, 
the nations of the world in working out the last 
stages of the ancient problem. \Mien the trident 
passed into the strong hand, of Castile, epoch- 
making events traced their clear signatures upon 
the scroll of history, but it was the genius of Co- 



REVEALS HIMSELF 211; 



lumbus that gave to Spanish heroism for its em- 
ployment both a held and a tendency. 

Columbus Reveals Himself. 

It has been said that John Cabot, the fellow- 
townsman of Columbus, is little more than the 
shadow of a name. He tells us nothing of him- 
self. Vasco da Gama and Magellan, the other 
great contemporaries of Columbus, were silent 
men. Of the workings of their minds we know 
little more than we do about the identity of the 
man in the iron mask. With the great discoverer 
it is far otherwise. From his writings we know 
him as a husband and aiover. On these relations 
his own pen has pronounced the sharpest censure. 
We know his solicitude for his kinsmen and 
kinswomen; we know his family pride. Again 
we see him dreaming on mighty things to come, 
and living to see many of them realized. Never' 
perhaps, has a man of action revealed himself 
so fully. The tenacity with which he clung to 
his old illusions is not more remarkable than his 
devotion to the ideals of the past. His firmness 
of purpose and his boldness of execution are 
qualities so striking that they are universally 
acknowledged. We have every proof of his fine 
powers of observation. He tells us of his love 
of money, but also of its destined use. Few are 
those who deny his practical ability as a navi- 



214 COLUMBUS AND HIS PREDECESSORS 

gator. Columbus was a human being with human 
Hmitations, and it adds naught to his fame to 
attempt, in our encomiums, to canonize him. He 
was a great man, great not according to the 
standard of the tented field, but because of an 
original greatness. He was great by reason of 
his conception of a grand design and because of 
its accomplishment. His fame is secure and 
will flame forever in the firmament of time. In 
concluding judicious and sympathetic observa- 
tions in the introduction to his great work, 
Thacher says of Columbus : "The world did not 
observe his final exit from the stage. Yet was 
he a great character, one of the greatest ever 
passing before the eyes of men."^ 

^Columbus, I, 186. 



A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Fischer, Joseph, S. J. : The Discoveries of the 
Norsemen in America. St. Louis, 1903. 

Reeves, Arthur Middleton, : The Finding of 
Wineland The Good. London, 1890. 

Beazley, C. Raymond, : Prince Henry The Navi- 
gator. New York, 1895. 

Bourne, E. G. : Spain in America. New York 
and London, 1906. 

Major, R. H. : Life of Prince Henry Siirnamed 
The Navigator. London, 1868. 

Cheyney, E. P.: The European Background of 
American History. Xew York, 1905. 

Yule, Sir Henry, : Cathay and the Way Thither. 
London, 1866. 

Polo, Marco,: The Travels of Marco Polo The 
Venetian. Edited by John Masefield. Lon- 
don, 1908. 

Dicuil: De Mensura Orbis Terrae. Edited by 
G. Parthey. Berlin, 1870. 

Fiske, John,: The Discovery of America. 2 
Vols. Boston, 1902. 

Hakluyt, Richard, : The Principal Navigations 
Voyages Traffiques and Discoveries of the 
English Nation. 12 Vols. Glasgow, 1903- 
1905. 



2l6 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Irving, \\'ashington, : Life and Voyages of Co- 
lumbus. 3 \'ols. New York, 1902. 

Xavarrete, D. Martin Fernandez, : Coleccion 
de los Viajes y Descvuhrimientos. 5 Vols 
Madrid, 1858. Second edition. 

Thacher, John Boyd,: Christopher Columbus — 
His Life, His Work, His Repmins. 3 Vols. 
New York, 1903. 

\'ignaud, Henry, : Etudes Critique sur la vie de 
Colomb Avant Scs Decouvertec^, i Vol. Paris, 

^905; 

Histoire Critique de la Grande Entreprise 

de Christophe Colomb. 2 Vols. Paris, 191 1. 

Harrisse, Henry,: John Cabot the Discoverer 

of North America and Sebastian His Son. 

London, 1896. 



Encyclopaedia Britannica (nth edition): 
Articles — Polo, Sir John Mandeville, Odoric 
of Pordenone, William of Rubrouck, John 
of. Piano Carpini, John of Monte Corvino. 

' The Catholic Encyclopedia: Articles — 
Mandeville, Geography and the Church. 



INDEX 

Africa. 6r, 75. 76. 78. 

Alexander, 4. 

Alexander. \'I. Pope, 199. 

Alvarez, 79. 

America, North. 27. 191. 

America. South. 206. 

Arabs, the. 7, 54. 

Aragon, 118. 

Arculf, II. 

Azores, re-discovery of, 67, 199. 

Aztecs, the, 210. 

Baldaya, 67. 

Barcelona, 201. 

Bernard the Wise. 12. 

Bethencourt. 54. 

Bobadilla. Beatriz de. 131. 

Bobadilla. 170. 174. 176. 

Bojador. Cape. 67. 

Brazil, 200. 

Brian. Danes defeated by. 17. 

Cabot, John, 191, 192. 196. 
Cabot, Sebastian. 193. 
Cabots. the. 2/. 
Cabrero. Juan. no. 
Cadamosto, Luigi. 7S- 



2i8 INDEX 



Cam, Diego, 77. 

Cambulac, 48. 

Cansay, 42. 

Capitulation, The, 177. 

Carthaginians, 2. 

Castile, 130, 212. 

Cathay, 30. 

Ceuta, conquest of, 61 ; 68. 

Charles V, 183. 

China, 30, 31, 43, 47-50. 

Christianity, 70, 71. 

Columbus, Bartholomew, 181, 204. 

Columbus, Christopher, 83, 86, 87, 88, 91, 96, 106, 116. 

118. 136-138. 143. 151, 152. 155, 185, 205, 208, 213, 

214. 
Columbus, Diego, 107, 177, 178, 181. 
Columbus, Ferdinand, 8q, 196. 
Columbus, Don Luis, 184. 
Correa, Pedro, 90. 
Cosa, Juan de la, 135. 
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 7. 
Covilham, 78. 
Cuba, 203. 



Da Gama, Vasco, 79. 213. 

D'Ailly, Cardinal, 86. 

Daniel of Kiev, 15. 

Deza, Diego de, 109. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 77, 156. 

Diaz, Diniz, 71. 

Dicuil, 14. 

Doria, Tedisio, 91. 



INDEX 219 



Eannes, Captain Gil. 67. 
Edgar Atheling, 18. 
England, claim of. 27. 191. 
Equipment, the, 123. 
Eratosthenes, 5, 93. 
Espafiola. 153, 166, 186. 
Estribygd, 21. 
Etheria, 10. 
Eudoxus, 5. 

Ferdinand. King, 170, 176, I79- 
Ferrer, Jayme, 53. 
Fidelis. 12. 
Florida. 197. 
Franciscans, the. 29. 

Garcilasso, 161. 

Genoa, 85. 

Gobi, the, 34. 

Gomara, 159. 

Gomera, 146. 

Gomez, Diego, 74. 

Gonsalvez. Antam. 68. 

Greeks, the, 3, 93. 

Greenland, discovery of, 20, 21, 26. 

Guinea, trade with, 68. 

Gutierrez, 150. 

Hanno. 2. 

Harrisse. Henry. 121. 

Helluland, 24. 



220 INDEX 



Henry the Navigator. 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 68, 69, 73, 80. 

Hermandad, The Santa, 123. 

HernandeZ; Dr. Garcia, 115. 

Herodotus, i. 

Herrera, x\ntonio, 161. 

Hetoum, 46. 

Himilco, 2. 

Hispaniola (See Espanola). 

Honduras, 207. 

Iceland, Irish in, 13. 

India, i. 

Indies, Council of the, 180. 

Indies, The. 201. 

Irish, the. 13. 

Irving. Washington. 169. 

Isabella, city of, 167. 

Isabella, Queen, log, 118, 176, 208. 

Islam. 50. 

Italians, the, 51, 56, 212. 

Jamaica. 156. 203. 
Jay. John Jr.. 97. 
Jenghiz Kan. dominions of. 16. 38. 
Jews, attitude of the, 133. 
John of Monte Corvino, 47. 
John of Piano Carpini, 36-39- 
John, King, 105. 
Justinian, 7. 

Karlsefni, 23. 

Kublai Khan, 30, 31. 33, 44, 98. IJ2. 



INDEX 221 



Lagos (See Sagres). 

Langarote, 70. 

Las Casas, Bartholomew, 88, 119, i35, 164. 

Leif (Son of Eric), 18, 22. 

Locke. John, 100. 

Machin, Robert. 53. 

Magellan. Ferdinand. 213. 

Malocello. 51, 52. 

Mandeville, Sir John. 43, 99- 

Marchena, Antonio, iio- 

Marignolli, 42. 

Markland, 24. 

Martins, Fernam. 102, 189. 

Massilia. 3- 

Masudi. 8. 

Mauro. Fra. 76. 

Medina-Celi. Duke of. 107. 122. 

Megasthenes, 5. 

Mendoza, Cardinal, 112. 

Mina, St. George da, 76. 

Moors, the, 62, '/2. 

Navidad, 202. 
Nearchus, 4. 
Necho (Pharaoh), 2. 
Neckam, Alexander. 55. 
Negroes, the, 67, 68. 
Nina, the. I35- 
Norsemen, the. 17. 24, 28. 
Nova Zembla, 79- 

Odoric of Pordenone, 40, 41. 99- 



222 INDEX 



Ojeda, 172. 

Ovando, Nicholas de, 180. 

Oviedo, 158. 



Pacific, the, 207, 

Palos, 92, 134, 198. 

Panama, 207. 

Pasamonte, Miguel, 182, 184. 

Passanha, Emmanuel, 52. 

Pausanias, 7. 

Pedro. Don, 66. 

Perestrello, Bartholomew. 66. 

Perestrello, Felipa. Moniz, 88. 

Perez, Juan, no. 

Phoenicians, the, i, 93. 

Pilgrims, the Christian. 9. 

Pilot, The Nameless, 158, 161. 

Pinelo, Francisco, 124. 

Pinta, the 135, 145. 

Pinzon Brothers, 121, 135. 

Pizzigani, the, 56. 

Po, Fernando, 76. 

Polo, Marco, 29. 30, 32-34, 98, loi. 

Polos, the, 15, 16, 29, 31. 

Porto Santo, 65, 66, 88, 158. 

Portugal, 58, 72. 

Portuguese, the, 69, 79. 

Ptolemy (Euergetes). 5. 

Pytheas. 3. 

Quintanilla. Alonso de. 108. 



INDEX 223 



Romans, the, 5. 

Rubruquis (See Friar William). 

Sagas, the, 20. 

Sagres. 64, 65. 74. 

San Salvador, 151. 

Sanchez, Alonso (See Pilot). 

Sanchez, Gabriel. 131, igg. 

Santa Maria, the. 135, 153. 

Santangel, Luis de, 120, 124, 199. 

Saracens, the. 11. 

Saragossa. the. 147-148. 

Scandinavians, the. 18-27. 

Scots, Danes defeated by, 18. 

Seneca, 94-96. 

Sepulchre, the H0I3', 155. 

Severus, 7. 

Seville, 97. 

Skrellings, the, 24. 

Slave trade, the, 69. 

Snorri. 23. 

Soto de Cassa, 7S- 

Spain, 106, 209. 210, 211. 

Strabo, 4. 

Sulaiman, 8. 

Tartars, the. 37. 

Thule. 3. 14. 

Tordesillas, treaty of. 200. 

Toscanelli. correspondence of, 102, 103. \\ 

Trinidad, 204. 

Tristam, Nuno, 69. 



224 INDEX 



Tryggvason, King Olaf, 22. 
Tyre, i. 

Vaz, Tristam. 65. 
Verde, Cape. 71, 72. 
Vergil, II. 
Vestribygd, 21. 
Vicente, Martin, 89. 
Vignaud, Henry. 187. 
Vivaldi, Ugolino, 91. 

William, Friar, 44, 45. 
Willibald, II. 

Wineland The Good, 19, 24. 
Wonderstrands, 24. 

Ximenes, Cardinal, i^?. 

Zarco, Captain. 53, 65, 66. 
Zipango, 98, 195. 



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